Lin's Archive of Unfinished StoriesDrabbles
by Linnay
Summary: Basically a collection of unfinished stories and drafts that has never seen the light of day until now. Hating to see them collecting dust, I decided to post them despite their unfinished state. All Crossovers, HP as base, Harry centric, SLASH warning for some (see separate story notes).
1. Manga Battles and Black Magic

**Date written: 11th March 2013**

**Disclaimers: **I do not own either Harry Potter or Bakuman; they both belong to their respective authors and creators. The same goes for the weekly magazine Shonen Jump which belongs to the publishing company Shueisha.

**Summary: **A new series debuts in Shonen Jump and takes everyone by surprise when it ranks high enough to threaten and contend with both Crow and PCP, two of the current most popular series in the magazine. Curiosity arises amongst the other mangakas as to the identity of this 'Satou Ren' fellow.

**Pairing: **Harry(Ren)+Fukuda.

**Warnings: ** Slight **AU **for HP**, OOC(ness), **mild **SLASH**. Excludes HP epilogue and Harry's relationship with Ginny.

**Author's note: **Having some free time before I start at my new job, I decided to catch up on the latest episodes, and chapters, of Bakuman. Curious, I tried writing a Bakuman and Harry Potter crossover fic just for the fun of it and see how it would turn out.

* * *

Manga Battles and Black Magic

* * *

The pair of Ashirogi Muto, a collective pen name they used, could be found sitting to the side with their editor Hattori Akira, in the cluttered and busy publishing office of Shueisha's popular Shonen Jump section. It was the end of the work week and the two young males were visiting the office to turn in their latest manuscript for their ongoing and serialized manga PCP.

Usually they met up with Hattori in their studio or in a local family restaurant close to the studio, but today Hattori had been short on time and requested they meet at Shueisha. Apparently he was meeting up with a newbie right after this meeting. A newbie by the name of Satou Ren. A pen name most likely; it hadn't escaped the two, or at least Takagi, that the name were composed of the most common surname and one of the most common given names in Japan for that matter. It could be his real name, sure, but, many authors opted for pen names to preserve their privacy.

They watched Hattori browse through the sheets with a discerning eye, while Mashiro and Takagi themselves took to observing the rest of the office as they waited. There was a tell tale buzz going around the office, the tension seemed higher than usual and had been noticed by the two young men. Mashiro exchanged a wondering glance with his best friend, both curious as to the source if this rise in tension amongst the editors. Wondering as well how this would affect the two's manga.

"It looks great, as always." Hattori said with a smile, gathering the paper sheets by bumping them together against the surface of the table before returning them to the manila folder.

The two turned their eyes back to their editor, alert once more.

"Thank you." Takagi replied with a light bow of the head, mimicked by his partner.

"Now if you'll excuse me." Hattori stood up, grasping the folder in his arms and tapping it once with a hand. "I'll turn this in to the publisher right after my next meeting."

The man turned to move away before Mashiro spoke up.

"Hattori-san!"

The editor paused with a mildly surprised expression directed at the shorter boy of the two.

Mashiro sent a glance to Takagi before continuing.

"I, and Shujin, were curious about this new mangaka,-"

"Who are they?" Takagi jumped in, unable to hold himself back.

Hattori grinned mischievously at them, causing both boys' eyebrows to rise.

"You may have a new rival."

* * *

"Iiiintereeesting! "

Hattori Yujiro faltered in his steps in the doorway, momentarily stunned at the loud shout before he shook his head good-naturedly. He took care not to step on any of the sheets of manuscripts lying haphazardly on the floor around the chair where Niizuma Eiji, the mangaka he was in charge of, was sitting in. He greeted the assistants as he stepped into the work room of Niizuma's apartment.

"Ooooh!"

"Niizuma-kun." Yujiro called, not surprised to see that his call hadn't done much to gain the eccentric young man's attention from where he had his gaze glued to the magazine in his hands. "Niizuma-kun!"

Eiji turned around in his chair in one fluid motion and blinked at his exasperated looking editor.

"Yujiro-san. Good evening." Eiji said, now in a more level voice, with a bow of his head.

"Good evening." Yujiro replied, automatically bowing back.

"Have you read this new manga? It's really interesting, you know." Eiji continued by saying and buried his noise again in the latest number of the Shonen Jump he had clutched in his hands.

"The one by the newbie Hattori is in charge of?" The editor replied, dumping his bag on an open spot on the floor.

"Yeees…" Eiji said, drawing out the syllable.

"I have. The new manuscript?" Yujiro asked, and then sighed when Eiji only raised a leg and pointed his toes to the papers lying on his left. "Thank you."

"Yujiro-san."

"Hmm?"

"This Satou Ren will rank high for sure."

The editor frowned lightly.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because it's good. It's a bit dark, but I like that and the humor balances it out anyway."

"I think it might be too dark for Shonen Jump though, like it was with Ashirogi Muto's _The Two Earths_."

Eiji hummed and closed the magazine.

"Perhaps." He said, dropping it on the floor and going back to drawing, adding his own sound effects to the drawings as his G-pen swished across the page.

Yujiro only sighed again as he collected the pieces of the new chapter.

* * *

"Who the hell is this Satou Ren guy?!"

"Hello to you too Fukuda-kun..." Yujiro replied tiredly, pushing away the copy of Shonen Jump that had practically been shoved in his face upon his entrance.

"Oi! Yujiro!"

"Yes, yes. It's a new guy that Hattori is in charge of."

"So who is he?"

Yujiro frowned mildly.

"I don't know really."

Fukuda Shinta, a young man with bleached hair whom most of the times could be seen wearing a beanie, stared at his editor incredulously.

"What do you mean you don't know? You work at the same goddamn place as Hattori-san; you must have seen the guy at least once!"

"Apparently he's a bit shy." Yujiro replied with strained patience at the way his charge just disregarded the honorifics for him but spoke of other editors with them.

"Shy?" Fukuda repeated dubiously, slumping into his seat. He eyed the editor for a few seconds, catching sight of the corner of a folder sticking out of the young editor's bag. A calculating look entered his eyes.

"You've just been to Niizuma's place? What did he think of _Black Magic_?"

The mangaka drummed his index finger against the magazine page.

"He thought it was good."

Fukuda pursed his lips at that.

"As I thought, huh? It reminds me of Ashirogi's earlier works in a way, only this has humor in it so it doesn't appear as dark because of it." Fukuda's eyes thinned. "He's gonna be dangerous." He mumbled the last part.

"You feel threatened?" Yujiro couldn't help ask with a smirk.

The response was immediate and expected.

"As if! I'll wipe my ass with my own manga before I let myself be threatened by some green leaf!"

Yujiro closed his eyes with a hand to his temple. Why couldn't anyone of the mangakas he was editor for be more normal?

* * *

Hattori Akira pressed the doorbell to the apartment, rearranging his shoulder bag as he waited. A moment later the door opened to reveal a young male with average height and build, though the female population would argue that he was slim but fit and, perhaps while not outright good-looking, he was somewhat handsome in a scruffy kind of way. Well, the hair was the same anyway, Hattori took notice, as unkempt and tousled as always. Hattori off-handedly wondered if the young man had ever used a brush in his life.

Dark eyebrows lowered and then dark green eyes blinked in recognition upon seeing Hattori on the doorstep.

"Hey, Hattori-san, is it time for the meeting already? Oh, come in!" The black haired young man turned around and called back into the apartment, the last part coming out in English. "_Dean! Hattori's here!_"

Yes, the newbie that Hattori had become in charge of was a foreigner that had some odd years back decided to move to Japan from England. Hattori had wondered about the long move a few times, actually asked the mangaka at their first meet up at Shueisha when Potteru-kun (Hattori still had some problems properly pronouncing the name) showed up with a manuscript for a series called _Black Magic_. The young man hadn't divulged much in the way of an answer, only replying it was because of personal reasons and Hattori had left it at that, respecting the man's privacy.

He'd been apprehensive at first, seeing that Potteru-kun was a foreigner and whether the quality of the manga would be up to par with the domestic authors. He was surprised to see that Potteru-kun showed both quality and technique in his manga along with a well developed story and characters. For having a fairy-tale setting though (the story was about wizards and witches though in modern times), the story was fairly dark but it did have some lightheartedness in the way how the main character interacted with the rest of the cast in various intermittingly humorous situations to alleviate the mood. It was the classic good versus evil set up and, with the wand waving wizard's battles with incantations and spells; Hattori thought the manga could actually work well in Shonen Jump.

It was for that reason, and belief, that the editor took on the young man, not wanting him to go to any rivaling magazines with his story. He'd approached his team leader Aida the same afternoon with the manuscript and caused a bit of a ruckus as soon as the fact that the mangaka was a foreigner came out. Some editors believed that Shonen Jump should only publish Japanese authors while others, like Hattori, thought that it could be a good thing for the magazine publicity wise. Recently many foreign entertainment artists and the like had made themselves a name in the country. It was a good manga after all, and so Aida was eventually convinced to take it up in the next serialization meeting.

In the end, as it always does, it came down to the editor in chief, Sasaki Hisashi. Potteru-kun's manga was after some debate accepted for serialization, on one condition; that he take on a Japanese pen name. Hattori was disappointed at first, thinking that some of the impact of the debut would be diminished, but he could see the editor in chief's reasoning behind the decision. He supposed he ought to just be glad that he had managed to get a foreign mangaka published in Shonen Jump, even if the readers themselves wouldn't know of it.

"Hattori-san?"

Hattori roused himself out of his thoughts, putting on a wide smile as he closed the door behind himself and removed his shoes. Following Potteru-kun (or Satou-kun as he tried to think of him so as to avoid unfortunate slips of the tongue) into the living room which acted as the work studio as well, he took a seat on one of the three-seat couches making up a small rest area of the to the side of the drawing desks.

"The final rankings just came in."

"_Brilliant_! So what's the verdict? They loved it, right? I mean who wouldn't?"

"_Dean_…" Potteru-kun sighed loudly and threw an exasperated look at his friend and assistant, a dark skinned young man of the same age.

Hattori-san had needed a bit more time to get used to the mangaka's energetic friend than the mangaka himself. Potteru-kun could actually be mistaken for a Japanese male if seen from behind, but Thomasu-kun with his natural dark skin and complexion would be obvious to anyone that he was indeed a foreigner.

The reason for Thomasu-kun being here was somewhat of a chance actually. Hattori, while going through the standard contract with Potteru-kun, had instructed him on the importance of assistants to help and ease the work load. It was on that note that Potteru-kun had mentioned he had a friend back home who was very good at drawing and that he could ask. Hattori was hesitant at first, until he found out that it had been this friend that had taught Potteru-kun the basics of drawing and cartoons, as they were called in the west. Considering Potteru-kun's skills, then surely his friend would be up to par for assistants work. As it were they were short on available assistants at the moment. Hattori had fleetingly entertained the small idea of sometime convincing the friend to give a try at his own manga but reined himself in. One thing at a time, as they say.

Of course, just having one assistant wasn't going to cut it (unless your name was Niizuma Eiji, then it could actually be possible, though apparently Fukuda Shinta only had one assistant too) and Hattori felt more secure knowing that he managed to convince the mangaka, without much struggle, to hire a Japanese assistant as well. They would be able to help with the work as well as with possible language obstacles. Even though Potteru-kun, as well as his friend, had proven surprisingly good with the spoken language, they both still had problems at times with the script and signs, especially Thomasu-kun. Hattori had had to edit some of the dialogue in_ Black Magic_ because of this.

Potteru-kun sat down opposite Hattori, looking up just as Thomasu-kun made to move into the kitchen.

"_Dean_, don't forget to brew some green tea as well besides _Earl Grey_."

"Relax _Harry_, I've got it this time."

The man just waved a discarding hand in the air before he disappeared from view.

Potteru-kun sighed.

"Maruyama-kun, would you?"

"No problem Potteru-san."Maruyama Takashi, the Japanese and second assistant, rose from his seat with a smile and nod.

"Didn't I tell you to call me _Harry_?"

"You did Potteru-san."

Potteru-kun sighed and Hattori chuckled.

Maruyama-kun turned to greet Hattori.

"Good morning Hattori-san."

"Good morning."

The assistant went away, leaving the two men.

"Thomasu-kun still hasn't learned to brew tea other than the English one?" Hattori said after Maruyama-kun had left.

"I'm afraid not, and he can only make _Earl Grey_ too." Potteru-kun shook his head helplessly. "I didn't realize how useful having a Japanese assistant would actually be. More than just brewing tea, Maruyama-kun has proven himself a real helping hand in not only the drawings but with the whole procedure of things. Who knew publishing a manga was this much work?" The young man sank further into the coach.

"I imagine it can be a bit of a surprise for those not involved in the industry." Hattori amended.

"So, the ranking?" Potteru-kun asked nervously.

The mangaka had been more nervous and apprehensive about the results than his friend. He fingered the knuckles of his hands, watching the editor expectantly.

Not intending to draw out the suspense any longer than necessary, Hattori withdrew a piece of folded paper from his bag.

"Did it drop?" Potteru-kun asked straight away.

"Yes." Hattori replied. "But not much." He hastened to say before his charge had the chance to reply. "It only dropped to sixth place."

"So, from first to sixth? That's not too bad right?" The mangaka asked unsurely.

"Most new series always drop in rankings on the second week after the excitement of being new wears off. As I've told you before, it's common for good new series to place in first place the initial week, and then drop in the second. The question, and challenge at that, is to keep it from dropping and keep it steady." Hattori looked up from the sheet. "But I want you guys to aim higher, I'm certain _Black Magic_ could place in the top three, along with _Crow_ and _PCP_." He said with a glint in his eyes.

"What were their rankings?" Potteru-kun asked bending forward, wetting his lips and resting his chin in his hand.

"First and third." Hattori replied without looking at his papers.

"Aren't you the editor for _PCP_? What was his name again, Ashirogi Muto?"

"Yes, but it's actually _they_."

Harry frowned.

"They?"

"Ashirogi Muto is the pen name for two young men, one writes the story and the other draws it."

"Oh. Is it alright for you tell me this?" The young man asked curiously.

Hattori waved off his concerns.

"Everyone at the office and even most mangakas are aware of Ashirogi Muto being a partnership. If not, it becomes quite obvious to them at the annual New Year's Party."

"Oh yeah, there was something like that wasn't it? I think I remember you mentioning it at one point."

"Tea is here!"

The two looked up as Thomasu-kun walked up and deposited a tray on the small table, deftly taking a cup for himself and settling himself on the couch besides Potteru-kun.

"Before you ask, we got sixth place." The man cut his friend off, before he could more than open his mouth.

Said friend frowned disappointedly in response to that.

"Sixth, are you serious?"

"But that's common, isn't it Hattori-san?" Maruyama-kun said from where he stood in front of the table, pouring tea into three cups.

"Yes, as I told Potteru-kun, it's common for all new series to drop in the second week." Hattori agreed, accepting the cup handed to him.

"I'll do better next week." The mangaka murmured with a determined expression.

His friend grinned at him while the other two smiled.

Hattori withdrew a folder from his bag.

"Now about the new manuscript…"

* * *

"Just attach this visitor's badge to your shirt Potteru-san, and then you'll be able to take the elevator up to the fourth floor."

The petite receptionist smiled sweetly, yet still politely, and Harry smiled back though slightly hesitant. Was it just him or had that woman just tried to flirt with him? He thought Japanese women were supposed to be shy and reserved?

A month and a half had gone by and Harry was happily (and giddily though he would never admit it) finding himself still serialized in the popular manga magazine Shonen Jump. The whole deal about turning in a manuscript had seriously just been an impulse. After the war he had found himself restless, not so sure anymore whether he wanted to become an Auror. It was under this period of listlessness that Harry got a visit from an old friend, Dean Thomas. Dean did something that most of the others hadn't even thought of doing, he suggested Harry find something else to do since he obviously didn't want to become an Auror. It had surprised Harry, having been through the majority of his other close friends telling him that it was just a phase from after the war that he was going through. Dean had then jokingly suggested Harry get a hobby since he was already in the danger zone of being infested by mold if he stayed cooped up in his home any longer.

Not knowing what kind of hobby he could take up, Harry asked Dean what kind of hobbies the other had. Dean drew, like he had continued to do since he was a kid, in fact he was a freelance illustrator working from home, or wherever really where it suited him. Intrigued, Harry asked Dean if the other wouldn't consider teaching him, you know just the basics. Dean readily agreed with a happy smile and the upcoming year was occupied with Harry being under Dean's tutelage learning the basic techniques and receiving a good foundation for further learning. After that Harry had taken up a simple desk job at the ministry, just to get the people of his back for complaining about his lack of work(not that he really needed to work with an, perhaps not exactly huge inheritance from his parents but still hefty enough to allow for ten or so leisure years if he lived modestly). He continued to draw in his spare time while Dean moved away to Edinburgh after receiving an offer for a six months contract on a project there.

Harry would have been satisfied with the life he had, working during the days and drawing in the evenings, if his curiosity hadn't been piqued by a fleeting suggestion given from Dean during a Floo call three months into his employment at the ministry. It hadn't escaped the other male that Harry had grown more and more interested in drawing and were actually getting quite good at it, probably would grow to be really good if given a few years to practice properly. Harry had also showed a knack at doing small series of cartoons illustrating many scenes from their school years and impending war. Dean had been amazed at Harry's ability to breathe life into scenes such as the Weasley twins hiding away from a fuming Professor McGonagall in the hallways, or the clarity and powerful illustration of a warrior imbued Neville as he faced off against the Dark Lord.

Wanting to encourage Harry, Dean had 'discreetly' mentioned that there were people making an actual living of creating cartoon series and that those were especially popular in Japan. Harry, seeing no reason in staying in a country with a job he couldn't care less about but perhaps except for missing his friends, acted on his first impulse and made almost immediate arrangements to move to Japan the following week.

It was in Japan that Harry had been living for about five years now, studying and learning the various techniques of making traditional manga and becoming amazed at the many different pens and tools used to make them. He liked to think that he acquired a new drawing style during those years, while copying and creating his own one that was more suited for manga. Then one day he had decided that he would make his very first and own manga, having seen an ad in the weekly Shonen Jump magazine encouraging amateurs to turn in their work to them. I mean, why couldn't he give it a try like anyone else right?

Harry walked to the elevator; still fumbling with the needle of the badge against his dark blue cardigan just as a hand reached passed him and punched the button to hail the elevator. He looked up, blinking at the taller young man standing beside him. Long and bleached hair peaked out from beneath a baggy and light grey beanie, longs arms and one hand shoved into his jean pocket. Perhaps predictably, it didn't take long for the stranger to notice Harry staring at him, turning his head to lever a raised eyebrow in mild annoyance.

"What?" The male uttered roughly.

"Nothing."

Harry turned his eyes away, embarrassed at having been caught outright staring.

The man huffed.

He couldn't help it though; this was a first for him seeing a Japanese man, or woman, with blonde, almost white really, hair. It was almost surreal in a way, Harry thought with an inward chuckle, knowing that he, if anyone, ought to know what surreal was.

The elevator doors slid open with a dim ding just as Harry finally managed to fasten the badge. Going inside he automatically went for the number four button only to have his hand bump with the other guy's hand.

"Sorry." Harry said, for some strange reason blushing, retracting his hand and letting the other male push the button.

"You're going to the fourth floor?" The guy queried.

"Yeah."

"Where'd you learn to speak Japanese? You're a foreigner ain't ya?"

Harry sent the other a brief glance.

"Been living here for over five years now." He replied, watching the numbers as the elevator rose.

The guy hummed and Harry was aware of the curious eyes looking at him out of the corner of his eyes. He fiddled with a loose thread on the hem of his shirt, waiting for the elevator to come to a halt and when it did he let the other young man go off first.

Harry never stopped feeling amazed every time he saw the massive amount of Jump posters and cut outs that was the first to greet everyone that visited the Jump offices. It was truly a sight to be seen for first time visitors. He withdrew the folder with his latest name inside as he stepped into Jump's office, the other guy already stepping up to an editor Harry vaguely remembered being introduced to on his first visit. Wasn't that the guy with the same last name as Hattori?

"Yuujiro, do you know how much of a hassle it was to have to come here just for a simple name discussion? Which we could do at my place?" The guy from the elevator told his editor grumpily, who also just so happened to be sitting in the seat behind Harry's editor Hattori.

"I've told you a thousand times Fukuda-kun that you need to work on your manners." The editor replied tiredly.

"Yeah, yeah."

Harry's eyebrows rose in response as he walked over to where Hattori was working on his computer.

Hattori looked up from the screen with a mild exasperated expression after which he took notice of Harry.

"Satou-kun! You're already here?" He threw a glance at his wrist watch. "You've got your name with you?"

He was still not quite used to being called by his pen-name at the office, but apparently Hattori insisted on doing so, even though he addressed Harry with his real name at Harry's home.

"I've got it right here." Harry said, lifting the bundle.

"Good. Well," Hattori's eyes swept across the office, spotting an empty table in the other corner and perhaps intentionally as far away from the somewhat loud duo as possible. "Let's take the seats over there."

Harry made to follow the editor just as a hand locked around his arm, making him nearly drop his name on the floor from the sudden surprise.

"What the-" He started only to be cut off.

"Did he just say Satou? As in Satou Ren?"

"Fukuda-kun!" The editor, Hattori (Yujiro?) said reproachfully.

The guy from the elevator, Fukuda-kun apparently, stared at him intensively with unnerving dark brown eyes.

Most of the office seemed to have noticed the sudden commotion. Within just a few seconds they had gotten the attention of the majority around them. It had been a while since Harry had had so many eyes on him since his school days, not counting the curious looks or stares he was prone to receive on the streets for the fact of him being a foreigner.

"Are you Satou Ren?" Fukuda repeated, bit more insistent this time, tugging at Harry's arm.

Getting over his initial surprise, Harry made to jerk his arm out of the other's hold.

"Yes, I go by that pen name, now would you let go of me?" Harry said with a frown.

Fukuda let his hand fall.

"I didn't know Jump published works done by foreigners. I never would've guessed you were Satou Ren." Fukuda huffed, rubbing at his beanie.

"It so happens that Potteru-kun is the first foreign mangaka that Jump has serialized." Hattori said from Harry's left, addressing Fukuda.

"'Potteru?'" Fukuda repeated with a quirk of his mouth.

Harry's eyebrow twitched.

"It's pronounced _Potter_."

Fukuda hummed non-commenting, shamelessly scrutinizing Harry up and down, making Harry wonder what the guy's deal were all about.

"And you are?" Harry asked, his annoyance showing in his expression despite trying to hold it back.

"Fukuda Shinta, the mangaka of _Road Racer Giri, _the best manga ever." Fukuda proclaimed proudly with a grin.

"The one about the motorcycles?" Harry asked.

"That's right."

"My godfather owned a flying motorcycle once." Harry mused, earning himself a fair share of strange looks.

"O-kay?" Fukuda replied, eyeing him weirdly.

"...Of course I'm joking." Harry said after a moment's pause with an amused smile, some of the closest editors chuckling in response. "Though he did own a motorcycle, not sure about the brand but it was a massive black thing all right."

"Why don't we go over the name Po-, uh, Satou-kun."

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Why not just call me _Potter _now, Hattori." Harry said to which Hattori chuckled softly as they moved away, leaving a bemused Fukuda behind.

Fukuda tapped his index finger against his drawing board, finger pausing as he heard the phone line click active.

"He's a foreigner." He said suddenly.

'_I'm sorry? What?_'

"I said he's a foreigner!" Fukuda repeated annoyed into the cell phone in his hand.

'_Who is?_' The person, now identified as Mashiro Moritaka, on the other end said sounding confused.

Fukuda gritted his teeth, hand rubbing at his head harshly.

"Satou Ren!"

There was a loud gasp heard through the earpiece, then some harsh whispering, some shuffling and then another voice was heard.

'_How do you know this?_' Takagi Akito questioned cautiously.

"'Cause I just met the guy himself at Jump." He replied irritated.

'_Oh._' Sounded Mashiro, they must be sharing the phone, Fukuda thought.

'_What country is he from?_' Takagi asked curiously.

Fukuda frowned.

"How should I know?"

'_What would your guess be?_'

"I said I didn't know, are you even listening?"

'_Ah, sorry. But this is the first time to my knowledge that Jump has serialized a foreigner right?_'

"Yeah," Fukuda leant back into his chair, pulling up his feet on the table, careful to avoid the manuscripts. "Hattori, your editor, said so too. He never told you guys about this Satou even though he's your editor too?"

'_No, just mentioned him once before the first chapter of _Black Magic _was published. He's been quite tight lipped actually about the guy._'

Fukuda huffed.

'_So what's his name?_' Mashiro asked.

Fukuda frowned again.

"Uh, what was it again? Pu, no, ah, Po-tteru something."

'_Potteru?_'

"Yeah, but he pronounced it differently, I think without the _–ru_ in the end..."

'_Potter?_' Takagi asked, sounding vaguely similar, despite the Japanese accent, to how the guy himself had said it.

"Yeah! Something like that!"

Takagi hummed over the line, obviously thinking.

'_I think he's English…perhaps Brittish, I think I've seen that particular surname before in some English book I read._'

'_You do read a lot Shujin._'

Takagi chuckled embarrassedly.

"Brittish, huh?" Fukuda replied, scratching his chin. "Thanks guys." He said, closing his phone.

* * *

**AN:** The first drabble from my dusty archive of unfinished stories to be posted. Them being posted in this shape means that they're unlikely to ever be finished, hence being posted in this unfinished state. I've been thinking for a good few months if I should post some of my unfinished stories, since I haven't had time to properly sit down and write for a good while now. My intention had been, like all author's, to finish these eventually...but RL is not co-operating. Which makes me sad, knowing I don't have time to write like I used to, but I gotta earn a living and takes priority so...*sobs* It's frustrating, seeing as I still have ideas for fanfictions popping up in my head at the most inconvenient hours of the day...(aka. in the middle of staff meetings, etc. Lol.)

Anyway, I don't know how many of these unfinished drafts I'll post. I'm only gonna publish those of decent lenght (despite their unfinished state). I might publish shorter ones if I think they're worth it, but we'll see. /Lin


	2. I'll Be Alright

**Date written: 11th of March 2013**

**Disclaimers: **I do not own either Harry Potter or Uta no Prince-Sama; they both belong to their respective owners, J. K. Rowling and Nippon Ichi Software, Inc. What random OC pops up throughout the story though I do lay claim to.

**Summary: **Harry Potter is an orphan raised in his early years by his relatives the Dursleys until his acting out caused the Dursleys to contact a distant relative; the widowed husband of Petunia's and Lily's cousin on their father's side. Harry was hoisted onto the relative, said relative accepting because he thought very poorly of the Dursleys' generally, believing the child would fare better in his care. The two stayed in England for another couple of years until the relative, of Japanese origins, got a job transfer back to Japan and the two moved over there. Harry was six when he left the Dursleys and ten years old when he left for Japan. He will be the same age as Shou (sixteen) as he enrolls in Saotome Academy in the composer course. (On a side note, I've seen on different sources that the guys are all aged 16-18, yet they (apparently) enrolled at the academy at the same time. I haven't been able to find an explanation to this and would greatly appreciate it if anyone could enlighten me. )

**Pairing: ** Shou+Harry+Shou

**Warnings: ** This is basically AU on the Harry Potter side, meaning no wand waving magic or major magical events. Slight/mostly AU on UnPS' side (this WILL be from Harry's POV after all). This story is set in the anime version of UnPS, while Harry's appearance is based off the books. I consider Harry OOC in this story, and Shou will lean towards being slightly/mostly OOC. I'll try and keep most of the remaining UnPS' cast in character (I re-watched the whole show just for that purpose actually…). Oh, and don't expect the plot to go exactly as it does in the anime. This IS a Shou and Harry pairing after all. On an added note, I've seen Shou's name spelled like Syo as well, but I prefer Shou so I'll be sticking to that. XP

**Author's note: **I like the idea of a Harry Potter gifted with the talent of singing (albeit 'somewhat' influenced by the number of Glee fics I've read, I admit...), and producing his own music and lyrics. I've even gone so far as to imagine him singing some of my favorite songs by a Swedish artist (although I imagine Harry with a _slightly_ darker tone of voice, especially with some high pitched notes). I won't be inserting whole song lyrics; only a sentence at most, and will most often just describe the song and put it in as a reference at the end if you want to look it up for added 'feeling' or just want to know the exact lyrics. You're not, of course, obligated to like the artist to be able to read this story, and you can just ignore the references if that's what you wish to do.

Anyway, with fear of turning this author's note any longer... I'll stop now and just let you guys read the actual story. :P

* * *

I'll be alright

* * *

'_Wow, I wonder what it'd be like to have a difficult life?'_

\- Harry James Potter

* * *

A black haired boy walked along a long winding graveled path. Dark jade eyes took in the immense grounds of greenery, pouring fountains and white marble statues until his eyes met the front of the illustrious and acclaimed Saotome Academy. He stopped in his tracks shortly, cherry blossoms falling and littering the ground around his feet. He closed his eyes for just a moment, taking a silent breath before slowly continuing on his way.

He'd been somewhat aware of the mere size of the school but as he closed in on the main building, and eventually came upon the site where the opening ceremony would be held, the boy realized how _huge_ the Academy grounds actually had to be. Practically the size of a larger estate counting the vast lands he'd been able to see surrounding the Academy itself. He had a hard time keeping his awed eyes from outright ogling everything around him and so decided to focus on getting a decent seat in the many rows set up before the big stage at the inner courtyard.

The happenings after that was a blur to the overwhelmed boy, who after that only remembers being directed to his dorm, finding his room and falling into his bed, utterly exhausted, after the long trip to the Academy and the new sights.

Harry James Potter had finally started on his own life.

* * *

Tired eyelids quivered and then opened half ways to reveal a pair of bleary and jade colored eyes. Said eyes turned from side to side as the owner rose up from his bed and a hand came up to scratch behind an ear.

"Oh, good, you're awake." A voice said and Harry blinked until his eyes focused on a brown haired boy standing in the middle of the room putting on a uniform jacket. "I was just about to try and wake you up, since first class starts in little than an hour from now. You okay? You were completely out cold when I came in last night. I'm Sanada by the way, Sanada Takahiro. I'm in the A class. You?" The boy said adjusting his jacket and then aiming a disarming smile at Harry who were still sitting on his bed, trying to keep up with the other boy's words with his morning tired brain.

"Uh... Potter Harry. S class." He mumbled, pulling away the blanket and swinging his legs out of the bed.

Sanada watched with wide eyes as Harry stood up, stretching his stiff limbs.

"You're a foreigner Potter-kun?" He asked mildly astonished. "I thought only Japanese students could attend Saotome Academy. And in S class too!"

Harry rolled his eyes with his back to the other boy. It continued to amaze him that so many liked to comment on that fact still, _and_ despite the fact that he spoke fluent Japanese now.

"I've been living here for over six years already and I have a Japanese citizenship. I'm not exactly a foreigner in that respect." Harry pointed out stiffly; tugging off the t-shirt he'd been sleeping in and bending down to fish out his uniform from his bag. While he was at it he retrieved a smaller bag with his laptop and deposited it on the bed together with a pair of dark green headphones.

Sanada chuckled somewhat nervously, probably having noticed Harry's annoyed tone.

"Well, I'm off to breakfast. I guess, I'll see you later Potter-kun."

Harry didn't bother giving a reply and a few seconds later the dorm door opened and closed swiftly. He had a short moment where he berated himself for still reacting like that when people pointed out the fact that he was originally from another country, but then he shoved that thought to the side. He wasn't here to make friends. He was here to prove it to everyone that he could make it with his music. Uncle Sato, his legal guardian, had said it was impossible and told Harry to apply to a proper high school. Wanting nothing of that Harry had been stubborn and even gone so far as secretly going to write the entrance exam for Saotome Academy without the uncle's knowledge. Add to that neglecting attending any of the other entrance exams to other schools his uncle had wanted him to try for. When Harry's actions came come to light, the uncle had been shocked and angry with the boy's actions, exclaiming that Harry was going to have to live through his poor decisions and learn from the consequences when he eventually failed the exam. Hopefully the boy would then realize the folly in his actions.

Like that would ever happen. Harry was determined to do everything to prove anyone that ever doubted him wrong. Just getting into Saotome Academy had shut the uncle up, for now, but nevertheless he'd gotten a very disappointed frown when the acceptance letter had arrived in the mail. Uncle Sato hadn't even said good bye when he left home for the academy. Not that Harry cared; he was finally doing what he wanted the most right?

Harry finished getting dressed by tying off his tie and slipping on the beige school jumper, foregoing the jacket.

He would show them all.

* * *

First class had been both exciting and annoying at the same time. The annoyance came in the shape of the posse of one Jinguuji Ren, the son of the rich Jinguuji Family. The good thing about Jinguuji however, in Harry's opinion, was that he kept most of the attention on himself, and off of Harry. Though he had drawn some attention during roll-call as Hyuuga-Sensei called his name, which obviously showed his foreign background, Harry had managed to somehow melt back into the backdrop of 'average' students. Usually Harry's tousled black hair would make him blend into the populace better, but his eyes and their shape gave him away despite his best efforts. Hence why he tended to keep his bangs long.

So when first class came to an end, and everyone went off to lunch, Harry was happy to wait until most of the rush of students had passed him. Leisurely making his way to the cafeteria and lunch hall he found the queues as expected; infinitely long with hungry students. Harry had no intention of shoving elbows with them and ended up cramped in a corner overseeing the hall.

Barely a minute into his wait his ears caught an affronted cry of "Munchkin?!", and his eyes were reluctantly drawn to some kind of ruckus with group of students standing close to the lunch lines. A small frown entered his features as he caught sight of Junguuji, figures he thought, towering over a smaller guy in a sweatshirt over his assigned uniform shirt and hat over his blonde dyed hair. Harry tilted his head to the side as the same guy obviously complained to the taller Jinguuji in a loud enough voice for it to carry over to Harry's position even, catching the guy's name, Kurusu Shou.

Poor fellow, Harry thought while watching the guy wave his arms about in obvious irritation while a timid girl stood watching the two unsurely. The guy was smaller than Harry that stood at 168 centimeters (5 feet 6 inches) now, but he'd had to wait a good while for that last growth spurt to kick in. Harry diverted his eyes again when another student joined the group and leaned his head back until it thumped lightly against the wall he was leaning on. He flicked a glance at the large clock. Forty minutes left of the lunch hour. He wasn't really hungry, but going without lunch until dinner was stretching it a bit even for him.

Lunch it is then, he thought with a sigh, pushing off the wall and braving the cluster of students in the lunch hall.

* * *

Next day saw Harry back in class and fingering a wristband idly as Hyuuga-sensei went into today's subject. Can't say he was too much surprised when Jinguuji raised his hand when the teacher asked to see which student's were in the idol course. He was, however, surprised to see the small guy from lunch pull up his hand as well to join the others. Harry raised his eyebrows but then quickly focused his attention back on the front as the students for the composition course were asked to do the same.

Letting his hand fall Harry was in for another surprise when the teacher announced that at the end of the first term, one student from the composition course and one from the idol course would be paired up together. The same pairing would together compete in the graduation audition for a chance to debut. Right after that small bombshell had been dumped on him, Harry's mind went into a minor uproar as he frowned deeply at Hyuuga-sensei.

No one had told him about this! He had just assumed that he would be recognized on his music alone, not having to depend on another person to actually reach that goal. What if that person didn't measure up to Harry's own standards? That person would be dragging Harry down with them wouldn't they?

As he continued listening to Hyuuga-sensei, he tried to calm himself down. At the moment his only saving grace seemed to be that he was allowed to choose whom he wanted to pair up with, but then that other person also had to choose Harry for a partner. A mutual pairing. And finding that partner in the first place would mean Harry had to make an actual effort of socializing and getting to know the rest of his class, according to Hyuuga-sensei. Not to mention the students in the other classes if worst came to worst. This was the same Harry who had never had a relationship or a close friend up to this date.

He was doomed.

Hyuuga-sensei went on to explain, unaware of Harry's inner turmoil, taking a paper from off his desk.

"Your first assignment will be a recording test. I have randomly selected a student from each course to pair up together for this time around. See this as a trial run for when you're going to pick a partner yourselves. The student from the composition course will be writing the music and the student from the idol course will be writing the lyrics. The pairs are-"

The loud scrape of a chair interrupted the man mid-sentence and he stared at the dark haired boy that stood with his hands on his desk.

"The idol will be writing?! But, I thought, I thought we would be doing composition _and_ lyrics." Harry exclaimed in a rushed voice.

Harry's eyes widened as he belatedly realized his actions, the entire class outright staring at him as the teacher's hard look focused on him. So much for staying inconspicuous...

"Potter, sit down." Hyuuga told him sternly.

Harry's eyes took in the other students' eyes directed at him, blanching, and hurriedly sat down again, bowing his head to avoid the stares.

"You should prove your talent in composing before you go making such assumptions." Harry heard Hyuuga tell him and the feel of the other students' eyes were heavy.

What am I going to do? Harry thought worriedly. First I have to pair up with another student and now I also have to rely on someone else writing the lyrics? No one has ever written the lyrics for my music before; I've always done that myself. There's no way anyone else can ever interpret my songs the way I intended them. This isn't fair!

As the other students moved around and paired up,Harry grew increasingly apprehensive. After his outburst he doubted that many idol students were feeling up to pairing up with the guy who wanted to write the lyrics himself. He was in a way right.

Hyuuga, after reading the last pair, called an end to the class and left the students to work out their first assignment between themselves.

"Kouki-kun got him." One whispered on his left, and Harry raised his head with an insecure frown that only grew in size at the disgruntled and annoyed grimace he got from a tall, lanky male with his dark red hair pulled to one side that had come up to stand in front of his desk.

"That sucks, pairing up with him. Thinks idols can't write lyrics does he?" Another male student whispered from somewhere on the right.

Harry turned his head around but wasn't able to make out who had said it, instead he caught Kurusu Shou glaring mildly at him, along with practically every other student who was in the idol course most likely.

It wasn't that he didn't think they could write lyrics, he just thought they couldn't write lyrics to _his_ music. Although Harry didn't think telling them that would help improve their opinion of him now.

"Let's make this clear." Kouki said to him, making Harry frown just a bit more at the teen's tone. "You just write the music and I'll do what I can to match my lyrics to it. Not that I have high expectations." The boy added with a low mutter and turned on his heel to go over to a group of boys that had gathered in the far left corner.

Harry caught the glares from, the guy's friends most likely, before he stood up in a rush and just barely grabbed his bag before practically running out of the classroom. He couldn't stand the looks anymore.

Harry didn't attend lunch that day, aware that rumors about him and what had happened in class had already started circulating by the time that lunch hour came around. He retreated to his dorm room, ending up skipping that afternoon's classes not wanting to deal with the stares and rumor mill.

When Sanada came back to the dorm it was close to curfew. Harry had already gone to bed and the boy was silent as he came in and didn't offer up any greetings. Harry heard the boy mutter lowly, dressing down and then slipping into his bed, turning off the lights.

Harry closed his eyes tightly and tugged the blanket tighter around him.

* * *

Morning came and Harry feigned sleep until Sanada left the dorm room. After the door had closed Harry got up and quickly got himself ready for the day.

Entering the classroom quietly, he was instantly aware of the stares on him, but kept his own eyes focused to the ground and then the top of the desk as he sat down. A moment later a shadow fell over him and he reluctantly looked up to see Kouki looking down on him with an annoyed raise of the eyebrows.

"So, finished with the music yet?" The boy asked haughtily.

The class room erupted into murmurs.

Harry bristled inside.

Of course Harry couldn't have finished writing his music already, everyone else had to know that but no one said anything as the boy waited for Harry to answer him.

"Not yet." Harry mumbled lowly, biting back his anger.

Kouki huffed, stuffing his hands in his pockets and already turning around as he continued.

"Make sure you get it done yeah? I don't want to have to retake the test just 'cause you failed to deliver the music in time."

Harry clenched his hands together against his thighs, staring resolutely into the woodwork of his desk as he listened to the boy stepping away.

Harry didn't go to the lunch hall that day either, instead going to the convenience store located on the school grounds to get something to sustain him for the rest of the day. He cooped himself up in the library, his laptop on the table in front of him and his headphones on while he worked on the first notes to the music.

So that Kouki didn't think he would be able to make the music in time, huh? Harry's eyes flashed angrily as he punched the keys on the keyboard non too gently. I'll show that arse that he can never come up with lyrics that'll do my music justice.

* * *

"It's done." Harry said, holding out a CD to a wide eyed Kouki. It was the first class of the day after.

The rest of the class quiet down and watched as Kouki looked from Harry to the CD and then to the side before practically ripping it out of Harry's grasp with a 'tche'.

"Don't forget your part, to write the lyrics." Harry said as he turned to go back to his own seat.

"Like the music's gonna be any good anyway." Kouki said with a pointed look to his friends who snickered.

Harry stopped in his tracks, but forced himself take the last steps and sit down on his chair, eyes fixed straight to the front. He didn't notice Kurusu watching Kouki, whom had a haughty smile on his face talking to the other boys.

Neither did he notice when the blonde boy turned his eyes on Harry with a strange look in them instead of the glare from yesterday.

* * *

They were standing in a recording room with most of the class, some pairs already having finished recording and left after being dismissed for the day. Harry stood off to the side, as far away from Kouki and his little group as the boy could possibly manage in such a small room. A girl was currently occupying the soundproofed recording room, belting out the lyrics to a, quite sappy, love song. Harry certainly would never have even considered the lyrics the girl had come up with, even though her partner was smiling brightly as she listened.

"Alright next one." Hyuuga called out after the girl exited.

Kouki pushed off the wall and threw a last look at two his friends before he took up position behind the microphone.

When Harry's music started up, he had to bite his tongue from commenting on the words that came spilling out of the boy's mouth. Horrible, Harry kept thinking, those are horrible lyrics. How the hell does he think those matches up with the music? The tempo was all off, he couldn't have listened to it more than two or three times apparently. It was the first time Harry ever heard anyone else's words to one of his songs and he wanted it to be the last. There was a reason why Harry thought no one could write lyrics to his songs. They didn't understand. They simply didn't understand the emotions behind the notes and what Harry had been thinking, trying to convey when he composed those notes.

He had the lyrics. The proper set lyrics right there in his head. But those lyrics were not the ones being sung to the music right now.

As the last note toned away, Harry shook himself out of his horrified stupor in time to see Kouki throwing that look at him again as he came out to them. A look, that just dripped of arrogance and smugness.

"Nice job, Kouki!" One of his friends called out and the boy dismissed Harry to turn and reply to the friend.

"Nice job?" Harry repeated quietly, but apparently not quietly enough since the room's activity stilled. "Nice job?" Harry said derisively, louder this time. "You practically butchered the music with those awful lyrics. Did you ever stop to listen to it? To the different tones? Try and figure out what each and every tone stood for? Their meaning!" He raised his voice slightly. "I could've sung that song far better than you at any rate!"

Kouki swiftly turned around.

"You think so huh! You think you're a genius or something Potter? It was the music that was 'awful'! The meaning of the, 'different tones'? If you're so hung up about it then do it yourself! Sing it yourself!"

"Maybe I will!"

"Then why don't you?" Hyuuga interrupted and Harry stuttered to a stop.

"What? I…" He started but wasn't able to finish. He looked around at the other students, suddenly apprehensively taking in the various shocked and glaring looks thrown his way.

"If you're that confident why don't you?" Hyuuga continued calmly when Harry stayed silent. "Sing the song."

Harry looked around again, his hands feeling cold and clammy all of a sudden. Hyuuga eyed him still and Harry had a hard time meeting the teacher's eyes. Then he breathed, deeply, and looked up with palpable nervousness.

"N-not with those lyrics." He mumbled.

"Not those lyrics?" Hyuuga raised an eyebrow. "Then what lyrics do you suggest you sing?" He said meaningfully.

"Mine." Harry replied.

Hyuuga frowned at him.

"You're saying you've written another set of lyrics?"

Harry nodded.

"Then be my guest." Hyuuga said with a shrug and motioned with a hand for Harry to step in front of the microphone.

The murmurs rose again among the students and for some reason Harry happened to glance to the side at Kurusu who was frowning at the teacher.

For a moment the students were sure Harry wasn't going to do it, the fact he appeared rooted to the ground where he stood. But then he jerked forward and everyone watched with murmurs and silence as the boy stepped into the recording room on shaky legs, earning him smug grins from Kouki and others in his group who were sure the boy was about to make a great of fool of himself.

"He said he had lyrics but he didn't bring anything in with him." A girl said with a perplexed look.

"You don't think he's going to make the words up from the spot? Do you?" Another said in response.

"That's impossible!" Was the immediate incredulous reply from another.

"You ready?" Hyuuga's voice sounded in the recording room where Harry had just gotten the headphones on with slightly trembling hands.

"…I-I'm ready." He stuttered, hands clutching the sides of the earpieces like a vice.

Harry took a deep breath, closing his eyes tightly to shut the piercing looks out, just as the up tempo music started.

This was his music. No one else's. His music. He could do this, he persuaded himself. Somehow...

He'd never sung his own songs before, not really, only murmured or hummed the lyrics that he made. Imagining how the words would be sung. Imagined how the words would be sung along with the music and melody.

As the first chorus neared, he opened his closed eyes, dimly wondering why the teacher hadn't interrupted this stunt yet. He glanced towards the window but the lights reflected just so against the glass so that he couldn't see through it properly. Seeing no one through the glass jogged something inside, something strange, as if a veil had settled over his senses and raging nerves. He turned to look at the microphone again and suddenly the words came forth a little easier. Suddenly his throat and chest wasn't constricting so much like they had just seconds ago. Suddenly, it just came _out_.

"_So give me tonight!"_

He nearly choked after the first chorus, both from the breath he pulled in and the sensation that swept through his whole body, vibrating and flowing at the same time, making him shiver with excitement. His stiff fingers let go of the headphones and arms fell down to rest against his sides.

The second verse came with a heady feeling as his confidence slowly built up with the song.

Just music, his music and his words.

When the last note struck and dimmed out he almost fell together in relief it was over, as if all his energy had gone into that one song. He pried the headphones off, shaking his head to rid it of the fogginess that he just realized had settled over him. He walked to the door and out to where the rest of his class stood silently, watching him with wide eyes and something else that he couldn't make out in his taken state.

Even so he did make out a gob smacked Kouki, which was priceless, and Harry couldn't help but feel immense pleasure having been the one to put that expression on the boy.

A clearing of a throat had Harry turning his attention on Hyuuga, and the teacher eyed the boy a while before he just said.

"The headmaster wants to see you."

This time it was Harry's turn to go wide eyed.

* * *

A highly nervous Harry trailed after Hyuuga-sensei down the hallway to the headmaster's office. His palms felt so cold now he thought he was going to lose all feeling in them any moment, but flexing his fingers against the palm proved him he still had feeling in them. He wanted to ask the teacher what was going on, what the headmaster wanted with him but couldn't bring himself to open his mouth. Would he be expelled and thrown out of the school? Punished in some other way? But he didn't dare ask for fear of knowing the answer.

Hyuuga-sensei stopped outside an ornate double door, knocking once, before opening the right hand door. He turned his head and motioned with a jerk of the head for Harry to go in first. This did nothing to settle the teen's nerves, which were by this time driving up the walls and almost crawling over the ceiling.

Harry only managed a stiff, short nod in return and went in, right away spotting a familiar figure sitting on a couch to his right. The middle-aged man was wearing the same suit, and polka-dotted tie for that matter, as he had done during the opening ceremony. The sunglasses were odd though since they were indoors.

"Ah! Yes! Mr. Potter, sit down, sit down!" The man addressed him in accented English, which made the teen raise an eyebrow, but nevertheless Harry took a seat opposite the man, not that surprised to see Hyuuga –sensei take up a seat beside him.

Headmaster Saotome scrutinized the teen closely and Harry could just feel the sweat drops start beading underneath his unruly fringe. He chanced a glance at his teacher, for help or what he wasn't quite sure, but the teacher just sat there with his arms folded in front of him, eyes to the front.

"No need to be so nervous Mr. Potter." The headmaster exclaimed as if sensing the student's unease.

Harry tensed, before blinking slowly in confusion.

"No?" He asked unsurely.

"No! I have great news." The man continued on without further ado.

"…great news?" Harry repeated, now thoroughly confused, and the headmaster grinned wildly in response.

"Yes! I have decided to transfer you over to the idol course."

"What?!" Harry burst out and stood up. Hope this wasn't getting to be a habit of his. "You can't do that! I-I applied to the composition course."

The headmaster eyed the teen with a huge smile.

"A-And I can't sing!" Harry continued and stopped short with the chuckle from Hyuuga-sensei and the outright laugh from the headmaster.

"_You_ can sing boy!" Saotome said, pointing at him. "Although untrained and a bit pitchy at some places, it is clear that you have the talent."

"No!" Harry said suddenly, making both men blink in surprise and the headmaster's sunglasses tip slightly to the side. "I chose the composition course."He continued and dug his fingers into his trousers, staring at the mahogany table.

Hyuuga eyed the headmaster then the boy.

"Why are you insisting on staying in the composition course Potter-kun?" Hyuuga asked the boy, bending forward and looking sideways at the teen.

Harry bit his lip as he frowned.

"I wouldn't be able to prove anything." Harry said eventually, quietly, and shoulders tense.

The teacher's eyebrows drew together.

"Prove what?"

"That I can make it on my own; with my own music." The teen replied, gaze firm.

The headmaster hummed loudly.

"I see." He said and tapped a finger against his knee. "You sure?"

"Headmaster?" Hyuuga asked.

"Who am I to stand in the way of the passion of youth!" The headmaster replied and stood up, causing the boy and teacher to jerk back at the sudden moves. "Show me your music Mr. Potter! I'll be looking forward to see what lies in your future."

Harry blinked rapidly a couple of times.

"That's it?" He asked incrediously.

"Yes! That's it. Now go!" Saotome waved the boy off and Harry, looking at his teacher and seeing said man's nod, walked to the door.

As he closed it behind him, Harry stared dazedly straight ahead, trying to get his head around what just happened in there. Or was it what didn't happen in there? Not to mention what had happened in no more than half an hour.

He shook his head and began his trek back to the classroom. He still had one class left before the end of the day after all.

* * *

As Harry stepped into the classroom the noise of conversation quieted down practically instantly. Great. He was the topic of the rumor mill again. He tried to ignore the stares and found his seat. Not even a minute later a shadow fell over him.

"So what happened?"

"Huh?" Harry jerked and the unfamiliar voice, and looked up to see Kurusu Shou standing in front of his desk with an expectant look.

"With the headmaster?" Kurusu added when no answer came forth from the sitting boy.

Harry frowned lightly, wondering why the other boy was suddenly talking to him, when just two days ago the boy had been one of those to send him glares.

"Why do you want to know?" Harry asked carefully.

Kurusu stared at the black haired boy with a raised eyebrow.

Around them some of the other students had turned discreetly to listen in on them while Harry tried to ignore them.

"Curious maybe?" Kurusu said, scratching his chin with a black painted finger which caught Harry's attention before he replied.

"Just curious?" Harry asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow in response.

"Well that, and wondering why you're in the composition course when you can sing like that." The slightly shorter boy replied. He aimed light blue eyes on the other teen, catching Harry off guard a second, was he half foreign? Hair was obviously dyed, but the eye color didn't look like contact lenses.

Harry looked away with a returned frown.

"I can't sing."

"Oka-ay…" Kurusu said at length.

"I mean," Harry began, then pausing. "I don't sing."

"What?" Kurusu said with clear surprise. "But you just did before."

"And it won't happen again." Harry replied. "I just want to make music, that's what I'm here for."

The blonde boy frowned.

"That's a waste, but your choice I guess." Kurusu shrugged his shoulders and left for his own seat.

Harry's wondering eyes trailed after the other teen for a moment before he turned back around when Hyuuga-sensei entered.

* * *

The next few days Harry started noticing a couple of things. He suddenly wasn't the outcast anymore and several people had started to greet him or say hello to him in and outside of the classroom. In the beginning it bewildered the teen of the, for him, drastic change of his classmates' behavior, not knowing if he was relieved or bothered by the change itself. He wasn't used to interacting with people quite so much like he'd been 'forced' to do lately.

He'd never had a real chance of nurturing his social skills, mainly because of the Dursleys cutting him off from people around them, never allowing him to make any friends for himself. When he turned six he'd just sort of resigned himself with being odd and an outcast that no one seemed to want to talk to. Even when he came into Uncle Sato's care at the same age that habit had just stuck with him and Harry had already fallen into a pattern of closing himself off from the outside world. His only emotional outlet was music when he first started writing it one year after Uncle Sato became his legal guardian. His uncle had encouraged him to start on a hobby of some sort, a plan to pull the boy out of his shell, and Harry started playing the acoustic guitar after some encouragement. This later evolved into the purchase of a computer equipped with composing software in his early teens, when the simple guitar wasn't enough for him anymore.

Uncle Sato, who had been initially supportive of Harry's music, suddenly changed when the boy's grades started to fall or just passing muster. All of a sudden Harry's only outlet was taking up too much of his time and the uncle began telling him to focus more on his studies instead of the music. This, as one could imagine from a socially inept boy, had the direct opposite effect with the introverted Harry. As of this date, the uncle had never listened to any of Harry's songs that he had composed using the computer.

Harry shook his head to rid it of the s depressing thoughts, telling himself that it was of no use to delve into the past at this point. He was here now and he could only accomplish his goal if he put all of his focus on his music. He'd gotten into Saotome Academy on his own but that had merely been the first step. The biggest and next step would be to get his music released with a talented artist.

He dragged his finger across the mouse-pad and scrolled through the files. Years of work lay stored on the thrumming hard drive and on separate back-up CDs in a bag hidden in his dorm closet. He was supposed to compose a new song for class, one played with either a single instrument or two to three at the most, but the requirements of the assignment had him stumped for inspiration.

Harry frowned at the lit screen, tugging at his headphones that lay around his neck.

"You keep frowning like that and you'll etch it permanently onto your face." A humor tinged voice told him. A hand pulled out the chair opposite him and then Kurusu Shou plumped down into the seat with a sunny smile on his face. "I'm Kurusu Shou."

If anything, Harry's frown deepened at the comment, but nevertheless he tried to relax his facial muscles despite himself.

Kurusu stretched his arms up above his head before he rested them on the table to lean on.

"Hard at work, huh?" He said leaning forward and picking up a CD from the top of the reference stack Harry had brought with him.

"That's…!" Harry started, reaching a hand out before tugging it back.

Kurusu blinked with mild surprise.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine." Harry said instantly, eyeing the CD in the boy's hand a second longer before directing his eyes back on the screen and opening up the minimized software again. He pulled up his latest saved file and stared at the string of notes that popped up.

The blonde turned the CD around in his hand, unaware of Harry's flicking gaze towards the CD, before putting it back at the top of the stack again to the dark haired boy's inner relief.

"You do all your composing on the computer?" He asked after a short while of Harry typing on his computer.

Harry looked up at the boy, wondering silently why the boy had sat down at his table to begin with. Whatever in the world could the boy want with him?

"Yeah." Harry answered quietly, striking up with his typing again, holding one earpiece to listen to the new part, frowning and then erasing the typed notes with a hard stab at the delete button.

"Not going so well?" Kurusu asked when Harry sighed lowly to himself.

"No." Harry replied despite himself, and tried another sequence of notes, before deleting those too after listening to them with a frustrated huff.

"Maybe you need to take a break?" The boy suggested.

Harry's finger's halted above the keyboard.

"A break?" He asked unsurely.

"Yeah!" Kurusu said with a smile. "Hey! We could go to the cafeteria, they have this awesome new lemon cake that I've heard from a friend is really good. Unlike someone else's cake from hell…" He mumbled the last part with a dark look to his face that disappeared almost instantly when Harry eyed him strangely.

"The cafeteria? Where there's lots of people?" Harry asked unsurely. He had no real desire of mixing himself with the student populace after recent developments.

Kurusu paused to look at Harry.

"When I think about it I've never seen you in the cafeteria." The boy said.

"That's because I've never been there." Harry replied.

"Why not?" The boy asked confused.

Harry wriggled slightly in his seat.

"Too much people." He said after a while in way of explaining. Truthfully, it was only partly that, he really just didn't want to expose himself to the other students now that some of them had suddenly decided to try and talk to him. It was just weird.

"You're not good with lots of people around?" Kurusu asked with something akin to understanding.

"...I guess not." Harry replied.

"Aren't you going to have a hard time finding a partner like that for the graduation audition?" The boy frowned a little at him.

Harry's head dropped in resignation, like he didn't know that already.

"Ah, sorry." The boy said sheepishly. "I'm sure you'll find someone." Kurusu tried to reassure him.

"I have my doubts." Harry mumbled. "I'm not good with talking to others."

"You're talking to me just fine." The other teen said then, as if to encourage him, and Harry looked up to see the boy smiling at him again.

"It's just us two." Harry argued. A whole group of people was way different than talking one on one. Not a whole group of people staring at him...

"So? Gotta start somewhere, right?" The blond replied, twisting one of his many bracelets around his wrist, and with a grin said. "So how about that lemon cake?"

* * *

"Relax!" Kurusu said for the third time in the last five minutes, as he watched Harry wriggle in his seat.

There were so many people around that Harry had a hard time settling down. Places like these were places that he usually avoided now because of the stares and being thrust right into one was unnerving for the dark haired teen.

"Can we go now?" Harry asked, rubbing one arm in discomfort when catching a group of girls sneaking glances at him, or was it Kurusu, in the corner of his eye.

"You haven't even touched your cake yet." Kurusu exclaimed with a small laugh, just before he dug a fork into his own slice cake. Plopping the morsel into his mouth moaned lowly with closed eyes. "This is so good!

Harry eyed the boy unsurely. Then eyed the cake and small dessert fork sitting on the plate. Slowly he reached a hand out, grasping the handle and slicing of a small piece. He brought it to his mouth, pausing, and then closed his mouth around it.

His eyes widened at the sweet yet sour taste that spread out across his tongue.

Harry's awe was interrupted when Kurusu burst into laughs at Harry's expression.

"You look like you haven't had cake before!"

"I haven't." Harry replied, still in awe.

Kurusu quieted immediately with a shocked look.

"Seriously?" He asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah." Harry replied with a small embarrassed frown.

"Wow…" The boy said slowly, watching Harry closely.

Harry's hand went up to tug at his fringe self-consciously, which caught the boy's attention.

"You ever tried pulling your hair away from your face before?" He asked, leaning across the table and pushing Harry's fringe backwards with one black-nailed hand.

Harry froze at the touch of the boy's hand against his scalp, green eyes wide in surprise.

Kurusu in turn stared at him, seemingly frozen in place, until he shook himself out of his stupor.

Harry blinked as the other boy rounded the table and then latched onto one of Harry's wrists, garnering some curious looks from students sitting at neighboring tables.

"You're coming with me." Was his only warning as the boy dragged him out of his seat and headed out of the cafeteria, nonchalant of all the stares they drew.

Harry yelped as he nearly tripped over his own feet.

"What about the cake?"

* * *

"Kurusu-kun, where are we going?" Harry asked again before the two stopped outside one of the many dorm rooms in the hallway they had ended up in. It wasn't the same hallway his own lay in Harry noted.

The boy pulled the door open and then Harry through it.

"Oh, hey Natsuki." Kurusu called out absentmindedly when he spotted a taller bespectacled teen sitting by one of the desks bent over a book.

"Shou-chan?" The other asked, turning around until he spotted Harry. "You brought a friend?" The guy asked with a large glimmering smile.

"Yeah, he's in my class, Potter Harry." Kurusu replied, sitting Harry down on the only other free desk chair facing the rest of the room. "Harry this is my roommate, Shinomiya Natsuki."

"It's a pleasure to meet one of Shou-chan friends!" Shinomiya said, coming up to stand in front of Harry. "Can I call you Hari-chan?" He continued without much pause.

"Uh…" Harry could only say, stumped for words for such a request, glancing at Kurusu who was digging through one of his drawers.

When the shorter teen came up to Harry again, shoving Shinomiya out of the way at the same time, he had a brush in one hand and something else clutched in the other. He raised the brush to Harry's head before Harry jerked back in response.

"What are you doing?" He asked, frowning.

Kurusu just rolled his eyes.

"Hold these for me." He told Shinomiya and dumped a couple of hair pins in the taller boy's outstretched palm.

"Wait!" Harry called out but Kurusu grabbed the back of his head with a hand and then tugged the brush through his fringe.

He closed his eyes reflexively as the boy worked his way through Harry's unruly hair, tugging at one particular knot.

"Ow!" Harry let out, opening one eye and half-glaring at the boy.

"Oops, sorry." The boy said with a sheepish smile. "But seriously, do you ever brush your hair?" He asked exasperatedly.

"Yes." Harry said. "I do!" He added at the dubious looks sent his way from both boys. "It's just that, it's always been like this and I just stopped bothering with it at one point..."

" Yeah, I can see that." Kurusu said with raised eyebrows, as he worked his way through Harry's dark hair. "Natsuki." He said, holding out his hand.

"Oh!" Shinomiya let out and then put one hair pin into the boy's waiting hand.

Kurusu tugged a lock of hair from Harry's fringe, pulling it back and then fastening it with the hair pin. Four more locks were pulled back and fastened in the same way, until Kurusu stepped back with his hands on the hips and a satisfied smile in place.

"There!" Kurusu said. "Now you can actually see your whole face. Why would you hide it like that when you're good-looking?"

"I'm what?" Harry asked perplexed.

"So cute, Hari-chan!" Shinomiya exclaimed, hands clutched together and eyes actually glittering.

Kurusu grimaced at Shinomiya while Harry eyed the taller boy warily.

"Leave him alone Natsuki. He doesn't need that kind of attention from you. Shoo, shoo!" He pushed at the taller teen and away from the dark haired boy.

"E-eh!" Shinomiya complained with a big pout.

"Uhm, Kurusu-kun," Harry started.

"Shou." The boy said.

"What?"

"Call me Shou." The shorter teen said with a friendly smile.

Harry paused, hesitating. He glanced at a smiling Shinomiya before turning back to the other boy.

"If you want," Harry scratched the back of his head, looking to the side." You can call me Hari."

"Hari then." Shou said with a crooked smile.

"Hari-chan!" Shinomiya said from behind Shou's back, a wide smile on his face. "You can call me Na-chan!"

"You're so annoying!" Shou yelled at the taller boy and shoved at him again.

"Don't say that Shou-chan." Natsuki pouted again.

Harry snorted involuntarily, after which he blinked in surprise, feeling his cheeks heat up.

"Oi! Nat-"

Harry's eyes grew wide as two hands grabbed his cheeks and he came face to face with a very excited Shinomiya.

"A blushing Hari-chan is even more adorable!" The bespectacled boy exclaimed, while Harry couldn't do anything but stare in embarrassed astonishment. "I want to take a picture!"

Harry face grew even redder. What the hell was going on here?

"I told you to leave him alone Natsuki, you idiot!"

Harry blinked again, and then he jerked back and away from the tall teen, momentarily forgetting he was sitting precariously on a chair. With an alarmed cry he fell backwards, limbs flailing in the air.

He landed with a thump on the floor and for a moment his head and vision swam. When it eventually cleared a face came into view.

"Hey, you okay, Hari?" Shou asked with a worried tone. "Natsuki, you idiot! He could have hurt himself!" The boy called over his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Hari-chan, are you alright?"

"I think I'm fine." Harry said and slowly heaved himself up, reassured when his head stopped swimming.

"Here."

Harry looked up at Shou and then took the proffered hand from the boy, and got back on his feet.

"You sure you're okay?" Shou asked him again with mild worry.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry." Harry waved away their concerns. "Just surprised me it's all. Not used to people getting that close. Caught me off guard." He added with a murmur.

"Alright." Shou said with a smile, after which he proceeded with showing Harry around the dorm room, enthusiastically showing Harry his assortment of clothes and accessories when the boy asked him about the boy's hat and style of clothing. Harry didn't get back to his own dorm until nearly past curfew that evening. He couldn't remember ever having this much fun with someone. It had been awkward, but fun nonetheless.

So it was a tired but uplifted Harry that went to sleep that night in his bed.

* * *

"I want to remind the composer course students that tomorrow is the deadline for the assignment. I expect you to have a melody to play then for the class. That's all for today." Hyuuga-sensei finished off.

Harry sighed and bumped his forehead down onto his desk, not able to share in the excitement some of the other students were showing in expectance of tomorrow's lesson.

"Still haven't written anything for tomorrow, huh?"

Harry peeked up at Shou for a short moment before thumping his head back down again.

"No." he mumbled into the woodwork.

"You want help?"

Harry looked up again, this time with surprise painted across his features.

The other boy scratched the back of his head.

"I don' know if I'll be to any help exactly, but I'll try. That is if you want to." The boy added quickly as Harry kept staring at him.

When no answer was forthcoming from the dark haired teen, Shou's expression started to fall.

"Well you don't have to-"

"I want to." Harry interrupted him.

Shou blinked while Harry did the same himself. That had surprised him even more, wondering what had made him accept the boy's offered help.

But the wide smile displayed on Shou's face had him quickly forgetting his wondering.

* * *

"What was the requirements for the assignment again?" Shou asked after they had dumped their bags by the wall of a deserted music room.

"A melody played on either a single instrument, one or two more at the most." Harry replied as he removed his laptop from its' bag and sat down on the floor before pressing the start button to boot it up.

Shou plumped down beside him and peeked at the screen as Harry guided his own way through the directory. Harry fought the urge to shy away from the close proximity between him and the other boy and wanting to hide his work.

"You play any instrument?" Shou asked him after a while of Harry clicking away on the computer.

Harry paused his typing to look sideways at the other boy.

"Why do you ask?"

"Wasn't that the assignment?"

"Well, yeah..." Harry started.

At the following silence, Shou looked at him with surprise.

"Don't tell me you can't play any?" He replied incredulously.

"No, I do, I mean, I can." Harry replied quickly. "I just-" He bit his lip.

"'Just'...what?" Shou asked him curiously.

"I haven't played it for a long time, that's all." He said, moving his gaze back to the lit screen.

"What did you play?"

"The guitar."

"Can you show me?" Shou asked and Harry turned his surprised eyes on the other boy again. "You know, maybe playing the guitar again might give you some inspiration." The boy encouraged him.

Harry shifted on the floor.

"I don't know, it's been a long time since last I played. I didn't even bring my guitar with me here..." He said trailing off unsurely.

"You could just borrow one, the school have lots of kinds of instruments for those students who can't afford or wasn't able to bring one of their own." Shou said and was already rising up from his seat on the floor without getting an affirmative answer from the other boy.

"But..." Harry only managed a short stutter as Shou walked over to a stand on the far side of the room where various instruments stood or hung.

An acoustic guitar on the left caught the boy's eyes and he grasped it's handle before turning around to face Harry again.

"You play the acoustic right? Most do. "

"Yeah, but..." Harry tried again but was deterred by the expectant expression the boy was sending him.

Harry bit his lip again.

He stared down at the keyboard for a couple of seconds, before he raised one hand and shut the lid with a soft click. Putting the laptop aside he stood up on his feet. Shou came back and held the guitar out to him with a smile. After Harry accepted it gingerly, he stepped back and plunked down on the piano stool facing Harry.

"Let's hear it." He said with a smile.

Harry just held the handle of the instrument with both hands.

"I don't know what to play." He said eventually.

"Oh." Shou replied and tilted his head to the side slightly. "You don't have any old songs you could play?"

"Well, yeah..."

"So let's hear it. Just choose one of those."

Just choose one he says, Harry muttered inside his mind and once more and chewed lightly on his bottom lip unsurely. Just choose one, which one? There One song popped up inside his head but it had been such a long time ago that he played it. He wasn't even sure he even wanted to play it.

"Uh, wait a minute." Harry said and went back to kneel in front of his computer again.

He put the guitar down beside the machine and lifted the lid. He browsed through the files for a while before he found what he was searching for. He sat back down on the floor and picked up the guitar again, adjusting his grip.

He plucked at the strings a few times, fiddling with the tuning pegs a bit before he was satisfied enough.

He breathed out, not daring to look up at the other boy lest he loose his confidence. He reached out and a finger pressed the enter button on the laptop. He had to ask himself again why he picked that song, but as his fingers touched the strings it was already too late to stop and the melody lifted of the instrument.

Though he hadn't intended to, his voice rose lowly as if on cue to the music, the memories washing over him. Just like he had sung quietly to himself in his room far away from prying eyes, he sang now for himself.

"_You have to know that, I'll be alright._"

"_Whether you love me, or not, I'll be alright._"

It was strange playing the melody, a melody he hadn't played since years ago it felt like, but was only really just a year ago. Tension he didn't know he had in his muscles seemingly seeped out and it was like his whole body gave a huge sigh and just relaxed.

This feeling, it was nice, he thought.

His voice faded out and his fingers stilled on the strings as the last violin stroke tuned out from the laptop speakers. . He blinked his eyes open, not knowing exactly when he had closed them and frowned slightly.

A sudden intake of air had him raising his head and he stopped short at the wide eyed and awed look Shou was giving him from his seat.

"That was beautiful." Shou let out with a puff of air, looking like he was seeing the other boy for the first time or something.

Harry pushed away the guitar and it landed on the floor with a clatter. Clutching the laptop he pushed himself to his feet and went for the door in a rush.

Hurried footsteps came up behind him, a hand gripping his left arm halfway to the door and swiveled him around.

"Hari, wait! What's wrong?"

Jade colored eyes looked back at a worried Shou, confused about the turmoil inside that was raging. He wanted to get away from it and the only place that popped into his head was his dorm room.

"What's wrong?" Shou asked again, his hand still clutched around Harry's arm as if afraid the boy would bolt again if he let go of Harry.

"I..." Harry began. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Shou replied perplexed. "What are you talking about?"

"...I think I got overwhelmed." Harry finally let out in a low murmur, his shoulders sinking.

Shou quirked his head with a half frown.

"By what?"

"The emotions." Harry murmured embarrassedly.

Blue eyes narrowed in understanding.

"That's why you ran?"

"...Yeah..."

Shou sighed loudly, then laughed as he let go of Harry's arm. Harry's eyebrows frowned as the spot tingled strangely where Shou had clutched his arm. What was that about? Harry lifted his right hand and held the same spot where Shou had. Meanwhile the other boy had already turned around.

"Guess we better get back to the dorms." The blonde said as he threw a glance at the clock on the wall. He bent down and picked up both of the boy's bags before coming up to Harry again. "It's getting late. You sure you're okay?" He asked, leveling a concerned look at the dark haired boy as he held out Harry's bag to him.

Harry reached out to accept the proffered item, opening the lid and slipping the laptop back inside.

"I'm fine." He said as he secured the fastenings with a 'click'.

Harry squirmed a bit when the other boy just stared at him until Shou smiled brightly at him.

"Okay! If you say so." He replied with grin.

They walked back in amiable silence to their dorms. When it came for them to part ways to each of their respective rooms Harry's steps slowed to a stop. Shou, noticing this a second later, turned around with a curious expression.

"Shou..." Harry started, looking up briefly at the other boy before looking out into the evening night through one of the high arched windows. "...Thanks." He murmured and without looking up again went down the hallway to his room with slightly hurried steps.

Behind the dark haired boy's retreating back Shou's eyes blinked with surprise, before the boy grinned brightly and raised his hand in a wave even though the other wouldn't be able to see it.

"Good night Hari!

* * *

Next day afternoon found Harry sitting in his usual spot in the school library typing on his laptop and tweaking different melodies. He was so immersed in his work that when his headphones was lifted off he gave a near squeak sound in sudden surprise. He turned around hastily in his seat looking for the culprit.

"Shou!" He exclaimed when he spotted the grinning teen with said headphones in one raised hand.

"Seriously Hari! I called like 4 times already and you didn't hear a single one of them did you?" He berated playfully as he handed the headphones back.

Harry clutched them in his hands as he noticed another individual standing just a ways behind the blonde teen. The girl, a short reddish-orange hair colored teen, seemed familiar but he couldn't remember from where he had seen her before. It was obvious though that she too was a student at Saotome Academy according to the school uniform she was wearing.

Shou, catching Harry's stare, drew back to the side and swept out with a hand towards the girl.

"Hari, this is Nanami Haruka, she's in A class and taking the composer class just like you. Nanami, this Potter Harry from the same class as me. The one I've been talking about." He added with a wink and elbow nudge to Harry's shoulder which made the black haired boy frown slightly.

The girl smiled gently in reply at the introduction.

"Nice to meet you Potter-san."

"Nice to meet you." Harry murmured back, eyes downcast.

"Don't worry Nanami. Hari's just shy." Shou said teasingly. "Come on have a seat."

"Thank you." The girl replied and sat down in the chair the blonde had pulled out for her at the end of the table. Shou sat down beside her and leaned over the table with both his arms.

Harry shot her and Shou a look before he resolutely went back to his typing, but somehow he couldn't focus as well as he had done before the two arrived. The dark haired boy frowned again.

"I heard from Kurusu-kun you do all of your composing on the computer Potter-san?" Nanami asked him.

"Yeah." Harry answered, wondering what that strange feeling inside was that had been nagging him since the two's arrival.

"He can play the acoustic though. He's really good at it too." Shou interjected. "Nanami, you play the piano right?"

"Yes." The girl smiled gently again. "For how long have you played the acoustic guitar Potter-san?"

"A bit over five years."

"I see, uhm, and how long have you been living in Japan?" She asked, still smiling softly which made Harry wonder why he was feeling annoyed with her. She had not given him any reason for that feeling which confused him. Besides, why was she asking so many questions?

"Six years."

"Oh, you talk very good Japanese! If Kurusu-kun had not told me that you used to live in England I would have thought that you had lived here in Japan all your life."

"Why does that matter?" Harry asked her abruptly, making the girl startle slightly.

"Uhm, no, well. I just thought that was impressing." She said carefully, a slim hand tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

"It's not. Anyone could do the same." Harry said and snapped the lid of his laptop shut.

His chair scratched on the floor as he pushed himself out of the seat. Snatching his stuff, he swiveled on his feet and walked briskly towards the exit.

"Hari!" Shou shouted after him but he didn't turn around.

Harry ducked to the side to avoid the clusters of students that he passed outside in the hallway. What was up with that girl? He'd gotten really annoyed when she asked those questions. How did Shou know her? She was in A class right? Then again Shinomiya-san was in A class too but the two were childhood friends right? Shou had told him that earlier when he first met the other in their dorm. Had Shinomiya-san introduced the two maybe? The taller student did like cute and small things after all...

Harry shook his head and was just about to turn the corner when a hand grabbed his shoulder from behind.

"Hari!" Shou exclaimed as Harry came face to face with the shorter teen. "What was that about? Nanami was just being nice you know? Did something happen?" He asked with a frown.

"Nothing happened." Harry said defensively and pulled away from the other boy's grip.

"Don't give me that. Something obviously happened to you. What's up? You were acting all cold to Nanami even though it's the first time you've met her." Shoe pointed out disapprovingly.

"You like her?" Harry asked suddenly.

Shou stilled in surprise.

"Wh-why do you ask that?" Shou threw back and scratched the back of his head awkwardly in embarrassment.

Something dropped in Harry's chest at seeing the other boy's reaction. His feet and hands grew heavy as he clasped the shoulder strap to his bag in his two hands tightly.

"You like her?" He asked again, slower but in a louder tone this time.

"I dunno!" Shou replied annoyed. "Why would you ask something like that out of the blue? Do _you_ like her?" Shou threw back at him.

"What?" Harry burst out with disbelief. " I don't- I've never spoken to her before!"

"Then why would you ask me that?" The blonde teen questioned bewildered.

"I-I-!" Harry stuttered to a halt when struck with that question.

Yeah, why would he ask Shou that? Why? What did it matter if Shou liked that girl?

Harry swallowed at the lump in his throat that refused to go away.

"Hari?"

"I don't know okay! I don't know why I asked you that!" Harry shouted.

Around them whispers from some passersby reached them and Harry looked around with apprehension at the curious looks sent their way. Anxiously he took in the dozen of students that had gathered at the scene by now. He wound his arms around his body and started to slowly back away from them with his eyes plastered on the ground. What were they whispering about? Couldn't they just leave him alone?

"...leave me alone...go away..." He whispered under his breath, brief memory images of his childhood rearing their ugly head at him.

"What're you looking at!" Shou shouted at the group and the other students scattered.

"Hari, you okay?" Shou asked him worriedly, turning around.

Harry felt a hand touch his shoulder but he instantly shied away from the touch. He missed the hurt look that entered the blonde teen's face at the action before Shou determinedly grabbed a hold of Harry's arm and bodily dragged the other teen after him into one of the empty classrooms lining the hallway. Harry shook himself loose again as Shou shut the door behind them. Backing way he bumped into a desk behind him. His legs gave out underneath him and he slumped down on the ground, pulling up his knees and clutching them in his arms. He dug his face into his knees and shut his eyes closed tightly.

"..._go away_..._leave me alone_..." He whispered with a hitched breath.

The shuffling of clothes was heard from in front of him.

"Hari? Hari what's going on?" Shou asked him more worried than before.

A hand touched one of his that he had fisted in the fabric of his pants.

"Hari, come on what's wrong, you're shaking!"

If possible Harry pressed his knees even tighter to his chest. Whispers of people swirled inside his head and he tried to push them away, out of his head. Leave me alone! He cried inside over and over again. Why wouldn't they leave him alone?

A pair of hands tried to pry his fists loose from his pants but he held on.

"Hari stop that and look at me now!"

Harry jumped in surprise and the tension in his body loosened just the slightest. A slight touch of warm fingers whispered across his ears and temples, gently nudging his head upwards. He blinked his eyes open when the hands clasped his face in them.

"You're crying." Shou spoke lowly, worry and surprise showing in his expression. "Is it because of those guys earlier..? I know you said you didn't take to large groups of people that well, but, I just didn't realize it was this bad..." He trailed off unsurely.

Harry blinked again and this time he felt the wetness in them and how a tear fell down his cheek. He tried to pull away again but Shou pulled him against the other teen and Harry froze when two arms enveloped him.

"I'm sorry." Shou murmured beside his ear.

Harry stilled for a moment, unused to the sensation of another person's body so close to his, until he cautiously raised his arms and dug his fingers into the back of Shou's hoodie. His breath hitched and then he buried his face into Shou's shoulder, hands tightening as he felt the tears well behind his eyelids.

They sat like that for a while, exactly how long Harry don't know but long enough for him to calm down and finally let go of the grip he had on the other teen's sweater. With slightly aching fingers Harry let go of Shou and drew back slowly, the other teen mimicking him.

Shou sat down on the heels of his shoes and eyed Harry carefully while the dark haired teen wiped with his sleeve at his red rimmed eyes.

"Sorry." Harry rasped out embarrassedly.

"Ah, no, don't worry about it." Shou replied awkwardly, scratching behind his right ear. "I feel like I'm kind of responsible so..."

The two entered into silence.

Shou fiddled with the hem of his shirt, gave Harry a look, then rose up and sat himself down again with crossed legs. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"So, can you tell what happened back there now?"

Harry rested one arm against his knees while the other lay in his lap. He stared at the fabric of his school jumper for a while before sighing himself.

"I freaked." He said, not looking at the other out of embarrassment.

"Freaked?" Shou repeated dubiously.

He sighed again.

"Yeah, freaked. I do that when I, you know...panic."

"Okay." Shou paused for a while. "So, why did you panic? 'Cause of the other students?"

"Well, yeah, that too..."

"'That too'? It wasn't just that?"

"Yeah..." Harry trailed off, not sure of how to continue since the other thing was just a jumble of emotions that he didn't really understand or could put a name on.

He squirmed where he sat when Shou just looked at him and waited for him to carry on.

"I don't know how to explain it." He replied after a while.

Shou frowned.

"Okay..." He said slowly.

"Just that." Harry started, clenching his fingers together in his left hand. "There was this, uncomfortable bump or thing in my throat when you talked to that girl..."

"You mean Nanami?" Shou questioned confused.

Harry hummed in reply.

Shou frowned again.

"I don't get it." He said, drumming his fingers on his thighs. "Was Nanami making you nervous or uncomfortable? Is that why you acted like you did?"

Harry shook his head in the negative.

"No, that's not right. She was nice, really."

"You're not making this easy Hari." Shou complained tiredly. "Then why were you that cold to her? If you think she's nice. I don't get it."

Harry swallowed.

"She was nice but...she kind of annoyed me too." He said carefully.

This time Shou looked at him with surprised confusion.

"You're saying you thought she was nice and also annoyed you?" Shou asked disbelievingly.

When Shou repeated what he'd said, even Harry realized how strange that sounded even to his own ears.

"Uhm, why did she annoy you?" The blonde teen asked him, looking curious and frowning at the same time. Then the boy's blue eyes widened in slight embarrassment. "Wait, does this have something to do with you asking me if I like her?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I asked that." Harry said, even more embarrassedly, averting his eyes awkwardly.

Shou sighed explosively and dug one hand into his hair after removing his fedora with the other.

"You're really not making this easy to understand you Hari." Shou put down the hat on the floor and leaned back on his hands. Frowning he continued. "Why would you ask me something like that unless you liked her too-"

"I don't like her." Harry interrupted with some force behind his words and making Shou chuckle in response.

"Okay okay, I get it. Still, I don't get why you would ask that unless you..." Shou trailed off and then blinked owlishly at Harry. The blonde teen's face slowly morphed into disbelief.

Harry frowned at the stare he was receiving from the other boy.

Shou shot up from the ground, startling Harry, and then started to pace back and forth across the floor.

"Why would you ask that unless you, unless you..." Shou rubbed his hair furiously and let out a loud frustrated groan.

"What's wrong Shou?" Harry asked. "Unless I what?"

The other teen stopped pacing and stood to face Harry with a really awkward and confused expression.

"Don't get mad okay? Maybe this is just me misunderstanding or something." Shou said quickly and took a deep breath. "Hari do you like _me_?" Came the jumbled and rushed words.

Harry frowned in confusion. Why would the boy ask that? Harry knew that he was socially inept but he at least knew he liked the boy. He hadn't had any friends before but wished to believe that they were friends, or at least Harry thought so...

"Well, I like you, you're nice to talk with and fun."

Shou shook his head exasperatedly.

"No Hari, what I'm asking is..." He bit his lip. "Do you like me like you would like a... girl?"

"What?" Harry managed to reply before his mind froze in place.

Like Shou would be a, girl? Why would Shou ask that? Was he playing with him or something? Harry looked at Shou but the boy looked serious enough to appear not to be joking. Then what? Like him as a girl?

Not like friends but...

Harry frowned at the thought and as he did, some kind of thickness or pressure started pressing inside his chest. His heart thumped louder in his ears, he touched his hand against his cheek and was surprised at the warmth against his palm there.

"Not like friends but...like a girl?" Harry said slowly to himself, swallowing reflexively as his throat dried up. The heat against his hand grew enough for him to feel the heat on his face itself. "What's going on? Why, my face..." He floundered with a rapidly beating heart and flaming face.

"Hari, you really..." Shou started with realization dawning in his expression.

"Why? What's going on?" Harry replied worriedly, clasping a hand across his chest over his thumping heart. It felt like it was going to jump right out of his ribcage!

Shou came up to him quickly and bent down on his knees in front of the freaking boy. Shou took a firm hold of Harry's wrists and held them as he spoke.

"It's okay Hari, calm down. It's okay."

Harry looked up with wide eyes.

"It's okay? But boys can't..." He shut his mouth unable to say any more.

"It's okay." Shou repeated firmly again. "Come on, let's get you into bed, it's gotten late."

The blonde teen gingerly helped the other boy up on his feet. Together they made their way to the dorms where Shou helped Harry get to his room.

"We'll talk tomorrow. Go sleep now okay." Shou said to the unsure teen that stood inside the doorway, not quite meeting Harry's eyes as he said this.

"Okay..." Harry said hesitantly.

Shou nodded and seemed to hesitate himself for a second or two before he closed the door to Harry's room. He trecked back to his own dorm room with a troubled expression.

* * *

"Is something wrong Kurusu-kun?"

Shou looked up from the forgotten course book he'd been staring at the last half an hour.

"Oh! Nanami-chan." He said and plastered on a smile when he spotted the female A class student.

"I was worried after last night when Potter-kun and you rushed out. Is he okay? Did I say something bad?"

She eyed him and Shou looked away while scratching the back of his head.

"Uhm, yeah, for now I think. Don't worry about it, Nanami-chan! It wasn't your fault."

Nanami sat down in the opposite seat.

"Can I ask what happened with Potter-kun?" She asked carefully.

Shou hummed, fidgeting a bit before he replied.

"Thanks Nanami-chan but, I think I'd better handle this alone..." He frowned a bit to himself.

"I understand. But I'm here if you ever need someone to talk to." She said with a sweet smile.

Shou gave a small smile back.

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

"Okay, I'll see you around then Kurusu-kun." The girl said as she stood up from her seat. "I got an assignment to work on. Bye."

"See you around Nanami-chan."

Shou called after the girl, watching her disappear around the corner before slumping back down on the table and groaning to himself.

* * *

**AN: **I _really _wanted to finish this story. Yet as I kept trying to finish it that little voice in my head kept telling me not to rush the damn relationship and move too quickly. If I ever do finish it (not that likely but still...) I'll update this story with the new version. Don't get your hopes up though. /Lin

Note: Oh, and the songs are by the Swedish singer Darin. 'Give Me Tonight' and 'I'll Be Alright'.


	3. Dropped from the Sky

**Date written: 17th September 2013**

**Disclaimers: **I do not own Harry Potter or One Piece, they both belong to their respective owners and creators, J. K. Rowling and Oda Eiichiro-Sensei. I am merely writing this for my own enjoyment.

**Summary: **People drop from the sky every day. Strange? Naah!

**Pairing: ** Zoro+Harry

**Warnings: SLASH. AU. PWP.** Bypassing of language barrier 'cause I'm lazy.

**Author's note: **Since my first HP/OP crossover was so well received I decided to go along with my second idea, which doesn't have much more substance than the first either I'm afraid. Just silly little scenes I concocted in my head and which I found amusing.

* * *

Dropped from the Sky

* * *

_"If you kill yourself, I'll kill you."_

\- Roronoa Zoro

* * *

It was a calm and serene sight that lay displayed before the ship Thousand-Sunny-Go belonging to the Straw-hat pirates. The ocean and sky almost melted together in its shades of aquamarine, only the occasional wisp of a smoky cloud sweeping by lazily above their heads. An uncommonly peaceful day for the crew and while some would have taken this chance to take some well deserved rest; others, namely the captain and his posse of troublemakers, of course found this to be extremely boring. Since he'd rather be fighting off Marines than drink tea under a parasol or reading a book. Who reads books anyway when you could go off on an exciting adventure? Right?

The captain, Luffy, along with Usopp and Chopper hung from the side reeling, heaving heavy sighs in chorus. The rest of the crew were up to their own devices; Sanji preparing dinner in the kitchen, Franky working away on his inventions below deck, Nami taking a relaxing tea under a parasol in the company of Robin who had a thick book in her hands while Brook was up at the steering wheel humming away on some pirate song or another. Last, but not least in any way or form, hidden under a shadow cast by the main mast laid a snoring swordsman, Roronoa Zoro, taking an opportune nap.

"Nee, Luffy, isn't there something we can do? I'm bored." Chopper said tiredly.

"Yeah, Usopp, figure something out." The captain said with an outdrawn whine and lobbed the question over to their firing expert without further ado.

"Me? You figure something out!" Usopp protested.

Just then Robin looked up from her book, pausing for a moment as she stared out at the ocean.

"Do you hear something?" She asked Nami who had just taken a sip of her cup of tea.

"Hmm? Hear something? No, I don't think…" She frowned and appeared to be listening more closely. "Yes, I do hear something." She acknowledged with a nod and deepening frown.

"Eh? What, what, what?" Luffy rose to attention at once, desperately seeking something to break the tediousness and turned around. "What do you hear?" He demanded to know.

"Yeah, I can hear something too." Usopp said as he began to look around.

"Oh, me too, me too!" Chopper agreed enthusiastically, jumping onto the wooden reeling and spying across the ocean surface in search of something.

Then Nami frowned harder.

"It sounds like someone's-"

"Who the hell's screaming? Shut up, I'm trying to sleep here." A half-groggy Zoro said as he sat up and glared at Luffy's group as the most probable suspects. Just when he thought he could get in a couple of hours of nice sleep, of course someone had to go and ruin it for him.

A scream, or rather shriek really, pierced the air and as a whole the crew looked up since the source, disbelievingly enough, seemed to come from above them. Usopp squinted before flipping down his specialized goggles and zooming in on a dark dot in the sky.

"Uh, guys?" He said apprehensively. "I think that's a person falling from the sky."

His statement was met with incredulous stares.

"Say what?" Zoro replied with a harsh frown, completely awake now, moving up to stand behind the three and squinting against the blaring sun.

"Where?!" Luffy said as he jumped up on the reeling next to Chopper and spied into the sky with a wide grin.

Usopp simply pointed and soon the dot became clear enough for them to see a black clad and flailing person descending fast to a most certain death against the hard surface of the body of water.

"Oh no!" Chopper burst out with rushed worry. "We have to save them!"

Luffy shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay."

Zoro just barely ducked the elongated hand that passed by him, brushing his cheek, as Luffy took aim at the falling person.

"Oi! Watch it!" He called out angrily.

The crew watched as the captain flung his hand and somehow miraculously, or maybe not considering this was Luffy the master of impossibilities, managed to grab a hold of the figure and the screaming ended abruptly. Only to start up again as the recoil of the rubber arm set in and the person was sent dragging towards the ship.

Instinctively knowing to make room, the crew spread out to the sides as one as the figure was almost upon them, everyone but Zoro whose eyes grew large as he realized this.

"Oi! Luffy!" He managed to say before he had an armful of black cloth and flailing limbs.

Zoro and his armful fell to the ground with a heavy thud. The swordsman had to take a few seconds to regain his breath before he sat up, the bundle rolling limply onto his lap.

The crew gathered around the swordsman and the stranger, angling their necks to try and get a look at the stranger as their cook burst through the kitchen door.

"What's going on here?" Sanji asked with a raised curled eyebrow, lighting and taking a drag of his cigarette.

"A person fell from the sky!" Chopper exclaimed, sounding astonished and worried at the same time.

"A person?" Franky replied, blue haired head peeking out from a trapdoor in the deck, tilting his head to try and get a better look at the bundle lying in Zoro's lap. "That one there?"

The swordsman just stared down at the bundle in his lap, looking confused as to what to do about it at first. Carefully he raised a hand and pulled away the, they could now see, black cloak that had gotten tangled around and was covering the whole body. A pale face met their view, obscured by a mop of messy raven black hair. A teenager from the looks of it, around sixteen or seventeen.

As the person's face was revealed, Chopper shot forward and proceeded to feel for a pulse and check the boy's breathing.

"He seems fine." The small doctor said. "A few small bruises here and there, probably from the landing. Just unconscious from the shock."

"He did fall from the sky." Usopp said and shivered lightly. "Who wouldn't be unconscious after that kind of experience?"

"But from where?" Nami asked and threw a look at the clear blue sky. "Sky Island? But we shouldn't be anywhere close."

"Who knows?" Brook said and scratched at his skull.

"Anyway, we better get him into a bed. I need someone to look after him until he wakes up, while I ground up some nutrients for him." Chopper replied and stood with a meaningful look at Zoro.

"Who, me?" The swordsman let out surprised, and then shook his head. "Why me? Let someone else look after this guy." He demanded, moving to shove the body of his lap.

"Zoro, you look after him." Luffy said with a resolute nod.

Zoro halted.

"Again, why me?"

"You caught him." Luffy stated matter-of-factly. "That makes him your responsibility."

"You were the one who saved him first!" Zoro cried out. "You look after him!" He made to shove the boy in Luffy's direction.

"But I'm the captain, and I'm busy."

"You were doing nothing just a minute ago!"

Nami sighed loudly.

"Quit arguing!" She yelled at the two, freezing both in their arguments. "Just look after the guy Zoro until Chopper's done and then you can go back to your damn napping. Make sure you don't leave him out of your sight! We don't who he is." The red head warned, turning around and walking back to her sun chair, deeming the discussion over and done with.

The rest of the crew followed her lead going back to their previous activities. Zoro heaved a large disgruntled sigh as he grasped the teenager in his arms, following the little Chopper into the doctor's cabin.

* * *

He ached. Merlin, he ached all over his body.

Harry's mind swirled as thoughts raced around and tried to organize them back into some semblance of order. What had happened again? Oh, yes, he had been at the Ministry of Magic, more specifically he had been in the Department of Mysteries. Doing what again? Looking for something? Researching for something? No, wait… The veil. That's right, he'd been examining it and looking for clues to solving its mysteries. Yes, after the war ended Harry had asked and been given special permission to conduct a research concerning the veil. He had gotten access to whatever texts the ministry had on it. Which proved to be quite scarce, and no real help whatsoever except for giving him more unproved theories to ponder about.

But then what? Wait… He had slipped, yes he slipped. Down the flight of stone stairs? No... Harry's heart constricted with beginning horror. Bloody hell, he had slipped through the veil. Was he dead? No, he could still feel his body, aching and all, so not dead then. Or what did he know, he could very well be dead, but where was he then? Some place dark it seemed, oh wait, his eyes were shut. Well, better open them and see where he had managed to land himself now then.

Bracing himself, Harry's eyes fluttered open and he blinked a few times to try and get the blurriness out before he realized it was because he wasn't wearing his glasses anymore. Strange. With a groan he sat up and rubbed his forehead, the other hand going over what felt like sheets searching for the errant glasses. Didn't feel like he was dead, perhaps he had fallen down the stairs after all and now he was at St. Mungos in one of their beds. Oh please, Harry pleaded silently, let this be St. Mungos and not some weird dimension or something behind the veil.

The clearing of a throat had him pause and look to his left, squinting his eyes at the figure before him. Dark green and white meshed together to form a big splotch of something. But it was another person. He breathed a relieved sigh.

"Excuse me, have you seen my glasses?" Harry asked.

"Glasses?"

The dark voice let Harry know that it was a male before another figure entered his line of sight, or whatever he could make out anyway, which was only a large spot of brown and pink on the top. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"You have a problem with your eyesight?" Another, much lighter, voice asked the teen.

"Ah, yes, practically blind as a bat without them." Harry said, feeling with his hands on the sheets, he was on a bed apparently. He fumbled around before finding his way to the edge and swinging his legs over it.

"What's your name?"

He frowned.

"Harry."

For a second he almost asked where the closest apparition point was back to the ministry before a thought stopped him. Why would they ask for his name when they should already know who he is.

"Where exactly am I?" He asked cautiously.

"On a ship." The dark voice replied.

Harry halted at that.

"On a ship?" He repeated unsurely after a while. A ship? How had he gotten on a ship? "How did I get on a ship?" He asked out loud.

"You don't remember?" The smaller one asked.

"You fell from the sky." The other said bluntly.

Harry's thoughts came to a stop.

"I what?!" He exclaimed before the frightful memory returned. "Bloody hell I fell from the sky!"

"Where did you come from?" The man asked.

"I, uh, I…" Harry didn't know how to explain it, because he was still reeling from the mere thought himself. How was that possible? Falling from the sky? Don't be ridiculous! But he had fallen from the sky, believe it or not. So he had fallen through the veil after all. His heart sank.

"I…slipped?" He finished hesitantly.

"Slipped?" The man repeated with a tone of disbelief.

Harry nodded, well it was true, partly anyway.

"Yes."

"From where?"

Ah. Now that was a trickier question wasn't it? How to go about this one…

"Depends on where exactly 'this' is." He evaded and pointed down at the floor.

"The Grand Line."

"The what again?"

Harry felt his nervousness rising when his question was met with silence.

"You don't know what the Grand Line is?" The smaller one asked astonished.

"Should I?" Harry replied unsurely, his sunken heart feeling heavier by the second as realization sank in and his brain gave of theory after theory of how this could be possible. All was leaning towards his first guess, but he did not want to be right on his first guess. Because that would mean, that would mean…

"'Cause everyone knows about it?" The man said matter-of-factly.

Oh hell, this was not looking good for Harry. What did they mean the Grand Line? An ocean or something, since they were on a ship? So this really was a-

"And how far is that to England?" He asked in one last attempt to disprove his guess.

"…England? Never heard of it. Chopper?" The man said with what looked like a shrug.

"No." The small one, Chopper, replied back.

The panic was pushing at his attempts to keep calm but it was all pointing towards it now. Even if he dearly wanted and hoped he was wrong he couldn't dismiss what had been one if his first theories. One that had proven itself true. Dimension travelling. The veil a gateway to an alternative reality or world of Earth.

Oh shite... Why did everything always happen to him?

The world tilted and everything got black.

* * *

Zorro's chin lowered and he stared down at the lump on the floor.

"Fainted?" He asked.

"He fainted!" Chopper cried and rushed forward to the youth lying on the ground. "Was the shock worse than I thought perhaps?" He wondered aloud with a deep frown. "Zorro, help me get him back into bed!"

The green haired man just sighed heavily before doing as asked.

When the teenager was back into bed again, Chopper did another quick check to see if the fall had jarred anything.

"He's fine." Chopper said and removed his removed his stethoscope.

* * *

**AN:** Abrupt ending, since it's unfinished. Btw, I still have day dreams of Zorro ravishing Harry...*drifts off* ...*shakes head* Maybe I'll write one just for the purpose of the ravishing...huh, that's something to consider. /Lin


	4. Crystals of Hope

**Date written:** 6th November 2010

**Disclaimers: **I do not own any of the characters or elements from either universe. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and Square Enix. I lay no claim to either franchise. This is purely written for my own enjoyment and I make no money of it.

**Summary: **He has been asleep for longer than mere centuries, friends lost in time forgotten but he will find new friends to cherish and hold dear. ..

**Pairings: **Hope+Harry

**Warnings: Sequel. Oneshot.** **Signs of boyxboy**. **Spoiler alert **and **AU** for FFXIII.

**Author's note: **I finally (actually a good year ago now upon posting this) finished the game, and so I thought I should try doing that sequel that I semi-promised everyone that I would do. This oneshot sprung from one single scene that I had playing in my mind of Hope and Harry, even before I'd completed the game. However, now I was able to place the scene on a certain location and time, as well as add some plot details to dialogue and such. I 'hope' you like it. (Did I mention I _absolutely love_ Hope's name? Although I think it's more because of the character, rather than the name's meaning itself... ) /Lin

* * *

Crystals of Hope

* * *

"Bloody hell…" Breathed a dark haired teenager breathlessly; at the sight of the highly technological and advanced city of Eden.

The capital city of Cocoon was not like any city that Harry remembered from his own time. Far off actually. He couldn't even start to fathom how many years it had taken to get this far ahead, even if they _had_ received the help from these fal'Cie. At first he'd thought the world, despite being different and thousands of years apart, that it still wouldn't be all _that_ different. Though that was when he had looked upon the planet that was below them now; and Pulse was as rural and wild as Cocoon was advanced. Two very stark contrasts when put side by side.

Soft chuckles from his right interrupted his gawking of awe and he promptly shut his mouth, slightly embarrassed after his moment of astonishment. He hid the tiny blush staining his cheekbones as the smallest and youngest member of their group, Hope, tripped past him. Harry lowered his gaze from the many tall buildings around him and then through the red glass flooring beneath his feet. He had his small doubts about the thickness of the glass being enough to hold the weight of humans and miscellaneous vehicles, but Hope had, while laughing too, assured him that the glass wouldn't break. Harry had come to trust the boy; he just didn't know if he trusted the floor as much.

After tearing his eyes away from the ground; Harry jogged after Hope to catch up with him, unaware of the glances sent his way by most of the remaining group. Most of them were still amazed and bewildered by the raven haired boy's appearance and revelations when first meeting down on Pulse. It had been after the boy had, single-handedly mind you, fought off some wolf like creatures with some very strange spells with that wooden stick he carried around, that the others, or Lightening in particular, wanted to ask more questions as to the boy's past. Only to have Hope surprise them all first by exclaiming how amazing the boy was, his almost childlike fascination with the other boy shining through his eyes, and asking what more he could do. This prevented what could have developed into an awkward and tense situation. Then came the reminder of the boy being able to use magic. Although they didn't exactly use that certain term to refer to their own powers. However he stunned them all by revealing that his magic was actually, despite going against 'common' sense, not given to him by a fal'Cie (or so himself seemed to believe anyway). Apparently it was actually an inherent skill that a part of his old people and friends had. That, if not, confused them even more. It just didn't add up to what they had grown up being taught and knew about being an l'Cie. I mean, the boy didn't even know fal'Cie existed and was equally astounded hearing about them, as they were about him not knowing about them in the first place! It was simply unheard of! For exactly _how_ long had he been asleep for? I mean really?

"Don't stray too far ahead!" Lightening called after the two boys and the girl, Vanille, who had ran after and joined the two in their teasing. The woman received waves in response to show that they'd heard her. Then the girl leaned over to say something to the dark haired boy, which had him spluttering and trying to grab at her in vain while she along with Hope laughed heartily.

Had Lightening completely been her old self she probably would have told them to stop fooling around but she couldn't help but to allow them this small respite, some fun, in this grave situation. Harry's good-natured but quirked humor acted as an emotional release for the two youngsters and Lightening was, though she would never admit it, grateful for it. It was better this way, enjoying what time they had since no one knew if they would ever make it out alive in the end.

Harry had adapted quite quickly to the situation, raising more unasked questions, and had soon proved himself a valuable member to the party. He was brilliant at magical assault but also a decent healer as well as, surprisingly considering his build, somewhat knowledgeable when it came to hand to hand combat. The latter he'd shown when his wand had been flung from his hand by the strike of a paw and he'd proceeded with launching a kick into the side of the head of the four legged beast that had attacked him. The kick stunned the beast long enough for Harry to retrieve his wand and blast the animal with a powerful fire spell.

What amazed Lightening the most though, was when looking upon him, when not in a battle, he looked as innocent as Hope. At first glance you wouldn't believe the warrior that hid beneath the surface of those forest green eyes. She was curious; it was much apparent that he was skilled, but it was not a trained skill, but a naturally acquired skill trough raw experience. That ought to have worried her more than it actually was doing.

"Who do you think you are midget?" They heard Harry say.

"I'm not a midget!" Hope protested.

Vanille patted the blonde patronizingly on the head, making the insult on his height and pride worse.

"You are quite short actually…"

Hope pushed her hand off with a childish scowl and turned back to Harry when the dark haired teenager snickered.

"You're not exactly tall either!"

Harry's snickers promptly stopped while Vanille began to laugh at the reversed roles.

"I'm taller than you!"

"I'm fourteen! I'm still growing!"

"As am I! I just haven't hit my growth spurt yet."

Vanille tilted her head to the side when a thought struck her. Why hadn't she thought about this before?

"How old are you Harry?"

Harry stopped before another childish rant could find its way out. He stared at her shortly before answering almost automatically.

"I'm seventeen. Why?" He said somewhat confused.

Vanille turned another patronizing look at the raven haired boy this time.

"I don't think you should put all your bets on that growth spurt."

Hope laughed merrily at the red haired girl's comment while Harry didn't know to be offended or not. His blush dampened the harshness of his scowl though, and only made the pair laugh harder.

"I'm still taller than both of you." He threw back and then let out a surprised noise when Hope jumped up on his back from behind; slinging both arms around his neck. Harry clutched the boy's arms with his hands to prevent his air from being completely cut off.

The teenager stumbled a few times before finding his balance again; Hope's legs wrapping around his waist to keep himself from falling off.

"I'm the tallest now." The boy said with cheeky pride.

"You're cheating!" Harry complained with a strained voice, while trying to loosen the boy's hold on him. "And get off me already." He added with a grumble.

Harry tried shaking the younger boy off him but only succeeded in making said boy cling to him more tightly.

"…can't…breath…" Harry huffed.

"Then stop trying to shake me off." Hope said with a cheery laugh.

"…you…little…"

"I'm not little!" Hope replied petulantly.

The two continued their struggle while Vanille laughed heartily as the teenagers were caught up by the adults of the group. The men and women sent them varied amused and eyebrow raised expressions at their antics.

"Kids will be kids." Snow said with a grin and shake of the head.

For that comment he earned himself two sets of protests and one unintelligible garble, at least that's what Harry managed to get out.

* * *

**AN: ** This was supposed to be the sequel to 'Crystallized Dreams'. Never got around to finishing it though as you can see... /Lin.


	5. The Red Line

**Disclaimers: **Don't own anything belonging to the rightful owners.

**Summary: **Sequel to 'Written in Stone'.

**Pairing: **Wufei x Harry

**Warnings: AU, SLASH, SEQUEL**.

**Author's note: - - - - - - - **

* * *

The Red Line

* * *

An unnoticed sigh slipped past barely open lips once, before the young man hefted his backpack further up on his shoulder. Squinting green eyes peered up at the cream colored concrete front facade of the building, eyes shielded from the sun's rays by a lightly tanned hand. The hand lowered slowly and glancing from side to side, the youth stepped up to the security booth and the closed gate blocking the entry way.

"Why, if it isn't young Harry? Here for another visit I presume?" Came the friendly voice from the guard inside the booth upon seeing the young man.

A middle-aged man stood up from his chair and came up to the little window, bending down low and putting his elbows on the small sill counter.

"Yeah, back again, Mr. Morgan." Harry answered with a small crooked smile while digging around in his pocket and retrieving an ID card, which he showed the man. After a short nod Harry replaced the ID card in his pocket.

The guard pressed down on a button and the gate jerked into motion with a clanging and whirring sound.

"Have a nice day then, Harry, I'll see you later on your way home." Mr. Morgan called after the boy as he walked through, heading towards the entrance to the Preventers' headquarters.

"I will, thanks!" Harry called over his shoulder.

* * *

Harry stood as still as he could, limbs outstretched, as a senior assistant (from the developmental research division of the science department in the Preventers) attached another sensor to his exposed arm. A dozen other ones with wires connected to them had already been attached to his other exposed arm, legs, head, chest and back. It was familiar procedure by now that he had grown accustomed to since a couple of months back. Even the embarrassment of being dressed in only his boxers and waned after a month or two. His clothes lay in a pile on short stool next to him, along with his wand that lay atop of it.

"You can relax now." The assistant, a Dr. Parker, said and turned his back on the young man to pick up a clipboard next to a wide range of electronic machines on a big steel table. "Dr. Uzinski, I'm done attaching all the sensor pads."

"Very good." Replied an older male who joined the two and accepted the clipboard that Dr. Parker held out for him. "Now Mr. Potter, have you experienced anything out of the normal since our last examination?"

"No." Harry answered automatically.

"Any problems with body coordination, reflexes and muscle flexibility?"

"No."

The doctor looked up while adjusting a pair of glasses and that slid down a bit.

"Feelings of fatigue and the like?"

"No."

The doctor hummed and checked of some things in his notes before signaling to the senior assistant who turned around and reached over to flip several switches on the machinery. Harry could hear the low humming coming of the machines as they whirred into life.

"Alright." Said Dr. Uzinksi and once again signaled his assistant with a nod this time. "We'll start with the usual tests." He went on to say as Dr. Parker picked up a box that had been standing on floor underneath the table.

Rummaging around in it for a few seconds, he then held out a wooden cube to Harry who took it in his left hand.

"The usual?" The youth asked to confirm.

"Yes."

"Okay." Harry replied, picking up his wand and then aiming the tip at the cube made of dark wood while intoning softly. "_Wingardium leviosa_."

Harry and the two other men watched the small cube rise approximately ten centimeters into the air before stopping its' ascent to hover in the same position. The boy flicked his eyes towards the doctor. The man checked and wrote down something in his notes before motioning for the next object to be handed to the boy. Harry snatched the cube out of the air, exchanging it for a heavier iron cube this time and working the same spell without problems.

The older man hummed under his breath, having expected this.

"Now," He said. "I want you to try without the wand this time."

"Okay." Harry said and put down the stick of holly. Once again he switched the cubes and did the exact same test, however this time without the aid and focus of his wand. Holding the out the cube in his hand, without too much trouble he had the cube of wood rising, slightly jerky at the start and dipping down and up instead of the steady rise with which he had done before. Eyes focused on the cube, trying to hold it still but it still jerked a bit every other second. After a while he let the spell go and he caught it before it could fall to the floor.

"Good, your wand-less control is still improving I see. A steady improvement for last week." Dr. Uzinski replied with a satisfied nod. "Let's see how you fare with the iron cube."

Harry nodded and then grasped the iron cube as it was handed back to him. He breathed in and exhaled once before his body stilled and he focused on the small object in his hand. As the seconds ticked by, nothing happened except for a light shaking of the cube. Eventually Dr. Uzinki cast down his eyes and scratched down a short note.

"You can stop now Harry." He said and was already turned halfway when the assistant Dr. Parker let out a gasp, at which the man quickly turned around again as his eyes grew wide in mimicked astonishment.

Harry couldn't help the wide grin of accomplishment as the iron cube dangled in the air above his hand, jerking every often bit still staying afloat. The boy let out a puff of breath along with a laugh that had the two men jump into action. Dr. Uzinski wrote hastily on his clipboard, eyes flicking up and down between it and Harry.

"He's showing heightened power levels according to the readouts doctor. This- this is the first time I've seen them this high! Please take a look at this!"

An excited Dr. Parker was quickly joined in front of large screen, the two men talking hurriedly to each other while reading off the numbers shown on the screen.

The movement distracted Harry for all of a second but it was enough for him to lose his hold on the cube and he barely caught it before it could slam into the ground.

While the two men went on in the background Harry eyed the cube in his head, clutching it tightly.

Just wait until Wufei heard about this!

* * *

**AN: **Was supposed to be the sequel to 'Written in Stone' but never made it further than this I'm afraid. /Lin


	6. Snow, Do You Like It?

**Date written: 21st December 2010**

**Disclaimers: **I do not own any of the characters or elements from either universe. They all belong to their respective owners, J.K. Rowling and Square Enix. I lay no claim to either franchise. This is purely written for my own and others' enjoyment and I make no money of it.

**Summary: **Who knew sleeping could be so time consuming? And what kind of name is Snow?

**Pairings: **Snow/Harry, mention of earlier Snow/Serah (the relationship having ended a good while before Serah turned into crystal because I hate cheaters).

**Warnings: Oneshot.** **SLASH.** **AU. Spoiler alert** (mostly for FFXIII).

**Author's note: **This is a oneshot gift written for the 100th reviewer, sasunarufan4everXD, of my story 'Second Chances'. She wanted a HP/FFXIII crossover with a Snow/Harry pairing.

* * *

Snow, Do You Like It?

* * *

Harry didn't know for how long he had been there so far. He'd counted the days in the beginning, but now the days had gotten blurred together and he was no longer able to determine more than if it was day or night. Surprisingly, or maybe not so, that was not something he was terribly bothered by. No, he was more preoccupied with keeping himself from starving and not be eaten by those very strange creatures. If he could only express how much he appreciated magic at that moment when it helped him avoid that large dragon thing from setting its claws into him and carrying him off to who knows where. He knew that without magic to defend himself with he'd just be a sitting duck waiting to be plucked. The thought wasn't exactly comforting.

* * *

The first few days had proved the hardest, he'd been shocked and afraid of his new surroundings, of the new animals he saw everywhere and the mere size of some of them. The hunger had been the hardest those days, Harry could create water for himself but finding edible food that his stomach approved of turned out to be a challenge. He'd gotten food poisoning on the third day after eating a few berries from a blue-green plant. He'd near starved to death by the ordeal, only living on water procured from his wand for three or four days, before he used his remaining strength to find and eat the berries from another plant out of pure desperation and grueling hunger. Guess he was lucky that these happened to be of the edible sort.

* * *

For lack of a better name he'd taken to calling the creature a wolf. It was the first animal that Harry had successfully hunted down and prepared as his first meal of meat. It was also one of the smallest animals living on the steppe and the only animal, excluding the smaller ones who he hadn't found that appetizing, that he was a match for. He'd soon learnt that he needed to grow stronger though, work his body so that it became fast enough to run and duck away from attacks where he didn't have time to use his wand. He had never learnt to apparate because of the ongoing war and the hunt for the horcruxes, so the need for a physically strong and fast body was necessary for his survival in this place.

* * *

He was getting better at handling himself and his brushes with near death had gone down from being nearly every day to once or twice every other day. Hermione would have been proud. Knowing that you were seen as easy prey, because of his size, did a lot for your sense of self-preservation and ability to find small little crevices here and there to hide himself and where he could also stash food and fruits for emergency supplies away from the hungry eyes of other animals. After all, Harry didn't need them eating the food he spent so much effort on gathering.

* * *

It was at the end of the first month or so, though Harry wasn't sure of the time anymore, that he found the first traces of humans and civilization. After realizing that his friends didn't seem to be coming for him anytime soon, unable to find and help him, who knows, he'd taken it upon himself to investigate his surroundings closer and look for a way back home. During one of these trips he'd found the ruins of a city which glory days seemed to have been more than a few years ago. It looked to be the crumbled remains of giant skyscrapers, broken asphalt and cars that seemed awfully futuristic from what he remembered of his uncle's car had looked like (uncle Vernon had been one of those people that always got himself a new car as soon as a new model was on the market). Harry had had his suspicions before; that he was in fact farther away from home than just in an undiscovered part of the Forbidden Forest, or in some indescribable part of the magical side of the amazons, even if he didn't know how he could have gotten there in the first place. Magic could do many things, even go back in time (he'd done so himself), but, was it possible that it could go forward in time as well?

* * *

There was no way around it now, Harry had moved forward in time, he just didn't know how many years but it had to be a few, an understatement, for the land to change this much. He no longer wondered why his friends hadn't contacted him yet and tried to come for him. Worst case scenario, which looked more than likely now, they weren't even alive anymore, leaving him all alone. Whoa, was that a depressing thought or what? Still, trying not to think about it, that didn't explain where he was, what this place was or where all of the other humans were. Even if he had (evidences suggested it but Harry still had a hard time believing it) moved forward in time, there still ought to be wizards and ordinary people around, right? He'd seen proof of their existence after all. Or the existence of muggles at the least and wizards kept themselves hidden anyway so it would be harder to find them. All he had to do, in the end, was find them. Maybe the wizards of this time had a way for him to get back to his own time and friends.

* * *

Harry was utterly frustrated. He'd searched and tracked the human traces for weeks only to be stopped by a giant flying creature and the tower it apparently used as a nesting place. He'd followed the leads here through caves and vegetation, traveled through underground tunnels made by a huge spinning ball, a living thing actually, who acted as a drill? He'd been hesitant of entering the tunnels but the obvious sight of manmade stairs, pathways and metal structures made him venture inside. He'd packed what he could of fruits to keep him sustained during the trip underground, hoping that it wouldn't lead him to a dead end or that he would end up lost down there. He fought against more strange creatures, but avoided most of them with the help of different spells to keep himself hidden.

After hours of wandering he came upon a type of creature that Harry thought was very comparable of one he'd come upon at the ruins of that city from earlier. Something about those creatures though had just made him really uncomfortable, the way they dragged and staggered their way forward, as if looking for something. He'd been discovered once by one of these, its scream had been deafening, almost metallic sounding, and it had been way tougher than any other creature around. He'd barely escaped with his limbs intact and had kept a safe distance from them ever since. That had been in the beginning of his time here, but Harry wasn't about to test his growing skills and strength on these while trapped underground with no escape but to run forward or backward. He wasn't that stupid.

Back to the matter at hand though, how was he supposed to get past that flying thing?

* * *

It was the strange behavior of one of the animals located around the tower that first alerted him. It moved past the slim opening of the opening of the cave he'd set up a temporary camp in. He'd done so since he was unable to move forward until he figured out how that tower worked and in doing so how to get to the top. The flying snake (he'd dubbed it a snake because of its long body and large head, but mostly just for the convenience of the name) had just returned from one of its daily outings and Harry himself had just returned from one of his daily expeditions to try and get on the right side of the workings of the tower but with no luck this time around as well.

The wolf (it didn't actually look like one, and had no fur, but it did have four legs, a tail and one big mouth with many sharp looking teeth) sneaked past the opening soundlessly, and it was only because of the alarms to his wards had gone off that he had noticed it in the first place. Harry withdrew his wand from the sheath hidden in his sleeve, casting a few disillusionment charms on himself before venturing outside. He sneaked across the mountain pass and bent down behind a large rock, peeking out around the side. The wolf was a few yards ahead, lying on its stomach to stay as low as possible while it hid in the brush of the tall yellowy grass. Its large and multiple black eyes was focused ahead and this is where Harry felt his breath get caught in his throat by the shock and sudden swell of emotions emerging.

Several yards ahead he saw a group of people walking along the path. The sight of other human beings had him rooted to the ground, his eyes not quite believing what they were seeing at first. Then he felt relief as this was his first encounter with humans ever since coming to this place. Not to mention they were coming this way and that had to mean that Harry had been right in his assumption that a residence of humans existed passed the tower.

The group consisted of three females and three males of various ages but none looked particularly old. One of the girls looked to be his age even and upon closer look one of the males was in fact a young boy.

Who was straying too far ahead of the group and didn't seem at all aware of the hidden wolf just waiting for the boy to get close enough to it to attack. In the corner of his eye he saw the animal inch closer to the boy as said boy tripped along, kicking a stone ahead of himself. Harry cursed loudly as the wolf sprung to life, jumping out of the brush and making a beeline for the unsuspecting boy. His friends, however, saw the animal approaching, but were too far away to do anything but watch as the wolf threw itself over him.

Acting fast, Harry jumped out of his hiding place in time with the wolf and sent of a spell, while hoping his aim was still good enough despite the distance between himself and his target. The wolf howled as the curse hit its side, slicing upon a large gash, and pushing it off its course, landing beside the boy instead of on top of him. While the spell had surprised the wolf initially, it was not about to give up just yet and growling menacingly it made for another try to sink its teeth into the boy. Another curse hit it in the throat area, its growls turning into gurgles as black fluid pumped out of the wound. Harry reached the shocked boy first, bending down to grab a hold of the boy's arm and dragged him backwards away from the staggering and bleeding animal.

The boy flinched at his touch at first, attempting to break free from the hold.

"Stop that!" Harry called angrily, while keeping his wand pointed at the wolf, ready to send off another spell if it tried again.

The boy stopped his struggles when Harry spoke up and wide pale green eyes looked up at the raven haired boy in obvious surprise. He took no immediate notice to the boy's stuttering ramblings as he witnessed the girl of the group send off several fire spells towards the wolf, setting it aflame, while another dark haired ended the poor creatures life by impaling its throat with her spear. So she was a witch? As the mewls and gurgles of the dying animal ended, Harry finally relaxed his hold on the boy's arm and righted himself from his hunched position. He stepped away, giving the boy some space and watched the girl rush forward to the boy's side.

"Hope! Are you alright?" She asked worriedly, helping the boy to stand.

"Yeah…" He said and trailed off, eyes landing on Harry again with a questioning look.

The rest of the group moved around them, Harry noticing quite a few suspicious looks coming from the older ones and how one of the women, a pale red head, moved herself just so, so that she ended up standing in-between Harry and the two youngsters. He couldn't help a raise of the eyebrow at her action, hadn't he just saved the boy from being mauled to death?

"Who are you?" She asked.

He decided to humor her.

"Harry."

"Where are you from?"

"Not from here."

She frowned, her retort interrupted by one of the males stepping up from behind her. He was the tallest of the bunch, wearing a large white coat whose sleeves he had rolled up and blonde hair half hidden beneath a black bandana. His blue eyes seemed naturally friendly, although now they were glinting with hidden amusement that had Harry's eyebrow rising higher.

"Thanks for saving our runt here." He said, hefting a thumb over his shoulder. The boy, Hope, let out an affronted complaint at the name. "Though I'm surprised how you managed that, since you don't look much bigger yourself."

It was at that moment that Harry knew that his aversion to certain annoying and cocky blondes wasn't limited to the Malfoy's. And that his sore point was still his size.

* * *

The group had spent the night in the cave Harry had inhabited for the last few days. They'd been suspicious at first, but it had apparently been dismissed and replaced with slight curiosity when their questions had been met with a variety of confused expressions and answers. They asked him if he was an outcast from Cocoon. What was Cocoon? They asked him if he was a l'Cie. What the bloody hell was a l'Cie? They asked many more questions about how he'd ended up there, used many terms he was completely unfamiliar with and which made Harry's head spin with all the new information clashing inside. When it had become apparent that he knew absolutely nothing of the things they asked, the girl must have felt sorry for him and proceeded with telling him about why they were there instead.

Her story didn't do much for Harry, he was still confused and more so when he admitted to being a wizard and receiving a mix of strange looks. They were obviously not familiar with this term and astonished, to say the least, to when he informed them that he'd had his magic since before he could remember, whole his life. He didn't quite understand what they meant with them being l'Cie, but he did get that 'magic' wasn't a natural occurrence around here, that they actually must've been muggles who had been given the gift of magic by one of this fal'Cie (however that worked in the first place Harry, or them, had no idea).

It was all just too confusing and they abandoned the discussion for now.

* * *

Apparently that flying snake was called a fal'Cie. Harry had suspected I from what he'd been told but now it was confirmed. The group had followed this fal'Cie in hope of getting to a place called Oerba where the dark haired woman and the girl's people lived. Learning that their destination was the same as Harry's, he naturally asked if he could join them. There was next to none opposition to his request, from Hope and Vanille that is and apparently the blonde guy had sometime in-between the Q&amp;A session come to the decision that he couldn't leave Harry out here all alone.

Harry didn't know if he should be annoyed or thankful that it was Snow who managed to talk the remaining hesitant people into letting him join their little traveling group. He was leaning towards annoyed though.

* * *

"When was the last time you took a bath?"

He eyed the blonde man, a disbelieving expression grazing his dirty features. He was aware that his appearance must seem haggard (at best) and even filthy to them. I mean, he _was_ filthy, and smelled. He'd grown accustomed to it though and soon you just stopped thinking about it. He hadn't showered for ages, it wasn't like he could just walk away and take one whenever he wanted to now was it? I mean with how he was out in the wild and fighting for survival and all that all the time.

"Do you see a bath around here?" He asked sarcastically. He adjusted his makeshift bag he had slung over a shoulder, from which he'd created from the fur of one of the animals he'd slain. He offhandedly took notice of the girl throwing the blonde a berating look for which the blonde only shrugged his shoulders.

* * *

Since when had man taken it upon himself to look after Harry? He couldn't understand it for the life of him why the blonde idiot was looking out for him. If Harry said he was going hunting, Snow offered to help. If Harry said he was going to scout ahead, Snow tagged along. Harry had been on his own for so long that he had half forgotten how to interact with other people and suddenly being among not one, but six others was downright awkward. He'd never been a socially inclined individual in the first place.

Hope was nice, albeit a bit too childish, Vanille likewise although more mature and she was a girl. Harry had never been that comfortable around girls, if they weren't friends like Hermione, and even then they confused him. Lightening was stiff and silent, she was a very good fighter though and Fang the same, although more outspoken than the other woman and she actually smiled occasionally. Sazh was supposed to be the voice of reason in the group, or saw himself as the adult in the group anyway. That left Snow, an overbearing guy that needed to get it into his head that Harry could take care of himself, and had been for a very long time. He didn't need or want the man's help.

* * *

They got through the tower in one day with the help of some trapped entities that lived in the statues throughout the place. With their help they managed to destroy the fal'Cie and able to move passed the tower, making their way towards Oerba.

What met them there was not what Fang and Vanille had been expecting. The place lay in ruins, littered with those monsters (they were called Cieth apparently) that Harry had come upon twice before. The two females were close to crestfallen at the sight of the place, their home. Across the ground and area there lay a blanket of what appeared to be snow but it was too 'refined', and it wasn't even cold outside.

While the others looked around Harry followed behind and did his best to hide his disappointment with the distinct lack of human activity around, looks like it was another dead end. He cast a glance to the side, watching the group disperse to investigate some barracks that apparently had been the home to the people who used to live here. Snow was standing a few steps ahead and he met Harry's eyes for a short moment as the raven haired young man walked passed him, following Vanille as she half-ran up the stairs to one of the barracks.

Harry had started noticing these looks, or more like glances thrown his way recently. At first he'd just ignore them, but it was beginning to become harder to do so for some reason that he wasn't aware of. Dismissing them was one thing but when they became more frequent he could feel something stirring inside that he had not felt before. Like the old Gryffindor he was, and with a curiosity that could kill a cat a hundred times over, he unconsciously let the other male talk to him more. It wasn't noticeable at first, but it was when Harry at one time became aware that his usual annoyance when interacting with the male had diminished considerably. Rather, now, he was just acting annoyed for the sake of it and the sarcastic comments had become more like a force of habit than genuine barbs to Snow's overall behavior.

Maybe all blondes weren't that bad?

* * *

**AN: **A FFXIII crossover that never got further than this. /Lin


	7. The Ancient Soul and the Lost Magics

**Date written: 8th April 2011**

**Disclaimers: **I lay no claim to either franchise; they both belong to their respective owners J. K. Rowling and Sunrise. I make no money from this story. I only write this for my own enjoyment.

**Summary: **Harry, a young boy, has been chosen as the new vessel of an ancient soul that has protected the country for the last millennium. What Harry doesn't know is that he's the reincarnation of a powerful wizard whose last deed in life was to erect a powerful shield around his country to protect it from their enemy. What are these strange memories, and who is that boy in them that looks just like him?

**Pairing: **Duo/Harry/Duo

**Warnings: AU, future Slash, OOC(ness). **(Reincarnation)**Harry POV. **AU because it's placed a thousand years in the future from the original HP series and has no real connection to the GW universe, Slash because there will eventually be male/male romance/interaction, and OOC because the story centers on Harry's reincarnation, going by the same first name, and not the exact original individual although he does play a role in his reincarnation's personal development.

**Author's note: **This is an altered and rewritten version of my oneshot 'The Ancient Soul'. I owe my thanks to 'when spells go wrong', a reviewer, who really helped me with developing this new version of the story. So a fair bit of gratitude goes to her. :)

* * *

The Ancient Soul and the Lost Magics

* * *

The cool wind whips against my face. I'm sitting on a rooftop with my legs between the bars of safety railing and my feet dangling over the edge of the building. My hands grasp the bars and I rest my forehead against one of them. It's a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, but not too warm to make it uncomfortable to stay out because of the wind that ruffles my clothes and raven black hair.

I glance down at my knees, noticing with satisfaction that I've begun to get a slight tan. I've always been pale but maybe my regular visits to the rooftop have paid off in some other way than to stay away from bothersome people. It's really the only the place left in the Research Institute where I won't be disturbed or accidently run into those annoying know-it-all professors who think they know what's best for me. As if I needed taking care of.

I frown at the thought, but then my eyes catches a view of a group of people moving up the paved pathway up to the Institute. I press my head between the bars to curiously peer down on the approaching group. No doubt another group of volunteers coming to get themselves tested. I can't help feeling both hope and slightly disturbed at the prospect of being freed from my duty, even though I was the one who made the decision in the end to go through with it. Although it wasn't exactly forced upon me, I still felt a degree of aversion after what happened to my father and his suicide. Which we still don't know why he did it, not even my mom had any idea and that probably hurt her the most because she was unable to help him before it was too late.

In an attempt to pull myself away from my depressing thoughts; I try and take a closer look at the group below. As you could have suspected they all seem to be mostly in their twenties (they won't take in those that are under eighteen – I'm nineteen by the way) and there's three girls and four guys trailing after one of the professors that's leading the way. As they go out of sight, disappearing inside the building, I grasp the railing and pull myself up with a little effort.

I reach for my sandals, strapping them on before I'm making my way off the rooftop. I unlock the door and lock it again when I'm inside and shove the key inside the front pocket of my shorts. It's a key I 'borrowed' from the janitor's key locker when no one was around to see. I manage to make my way down the three pairs of stairs and into the hallway before I can hear voices and sound of shoes against the rubber floor. I sneak a peek passed the corner and see professor Grith ushering the group along and then through a door. My gaze jumps over their faces as they one by one go inside but then my eyes stop on the last person that was standing with _his_ face turned against the side windows. I realize that who I at first had thought was a girl with a long braid of hair was actually on closer look male.

I lean carefully, just a little bit more, to try and get a better look at him. I only see his profile and the long hair that reaches way past his waist.

"Mr. Maxwell." Professor Grith calls.

There is a wistful look on his face as his eyes lingers for just one more second on the trees and blue sky outside, before he then turns around and joins his group, Professor Grith closing the door behind him and leaving the corridor deserted again. I step out of my hiding place, pausing shortly outside the door, frowning lightly. I decide then a visit down by the lake felt like the right way to spend the rest of the afternoon.

* * *

The Mirror Lake is a small lake that sits in the back garden of the Research Institute. The only ones that knows about it are the people working at the Institute and, of course, me. I appreciate it because it's secluded from the rest of the area and I'm the only one that really goes here in the first place. Maybe the others don't appreciate it like I do but that's all fine by me, then I won't have to worry about being nagged at.

I imagine that right at this moment everyone from that group has had their samples taken, or waiting for it to be taken. The reason that they're here to have them taken is because they want to be tested if they're able to become a vessel to 'him'. 'Him' being best described as an ancient soul, or spirit, that is passed from person to person in our culture to keep it alive, in a manner of speaking. I'm not really sure of what or who 'he' really is; only that 'he' is supposed to be a powerful guardian that once defended our land from an enemy, creating a large dome made out of pure energy to cover the whole large island we live in and prevent the enemy from entering our shores.

I grew up reading about the history in school and that's where we're told why we keep finding new vessels for the ancient soul to keep on living. It's as simple, or complicated, as that the antique defense system, as it has come to be called, is keyed into and fueled by the soul's unique energy. Without it the defense system would fail and we'd be left without any defenses against whatever 'lurks' in the outside world. Not that anyone is sure what exists in the outside world or even what it looks like anymore, since we've been cut off for nearly a millennium now.

Sometimes I think of the outside world, wondering if it really is such a dangerous place as my parents used to make it out to be. I mean, how could they know if it is, when we haven't had contact with it for so long that no one longer remembers it? The books we have from this time are all considered so valuable that they are all locked away inside the Institute or at other secure locations. Even the professors aren't allowed to bring out the ones they have in their custody other than to copy the text to manuscripts or correct mistakes in others. Anyway, apparently they don't tell much of what the world looked like at the time anyway except describing how the guardian defended our land and the process of how to pass the soul from one person to the other.

I lean down on my back, feeling the soft grass tickle my neck and the palms of my hands as I spread them out over the ground. The sun hits my face and envelopes my body in a warm cocoon and I can't help falling into a short nap.

* * *

My nap is disturbed by me sensing the prescence of someone else close by. My eyes open and I'm temporarily blinded by the sun before I shield them with a hand. I blink several times at the person sitting on the grass a bit ways away from me, wondering who they are, before I catch sight of a familiar braid trailing down the person's back.

I sit up, eyeing the guy unsurely while I wonder how he could have found his way here. As I mentioned earlier, other people didn't know about it and he shouldn't either if not a professor that knew somehow mentioned it to him. I keep my stare at him as he gazes out at the softly rolling water with that same wistful look from before.

It seems like he hasn't noticed me, but of course he has. I don't feel an urge to talk, and I'm not much of a talker anyway, so being silent suits me just fine. I turn my head to look out at the water as well. The water is blue and faded green in some places where the water is shallow and where you can see the lake floor.

"You live around here?"

I'm surprised to hear him talk; I had somehow gotten the impression that he was the 'thinker' type, a person that delves inside their mind to think about everything and anything that has to do with our small world.

I hesitate. I don't know this guy and I'm not really feeling up to talking. I wonder if he will leave me alone if I just ignore him and don't answer. Maybe it'll deter him from coming here again. I've become quite, territorial in a way, about this place and I think of it as my own place. That's why I'm not really liking his prescence here. Can't he have anywhere else to go but here?

* * *

**AN: **The idea was to turn one of my drabbe/short oneshots into a multi-chaptered one. Never happened as you can see. /Lin


	8. Trouble, Meet More Trouble

**Date written: 2nd December 2013**

**Disclaimers: **I do not own either Harry Potter or Naruto/ Naruto Shippuuden; they both belong to their respective owners, J. K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto.

**Summary: **Harry somehow finds himself in Konoha after the destruction of Konoha and in the middle of rebuilding it.

**Pairing: -**

**Warnings: Spoiler(!) alert**, **Oneshot drabble**, **AU** for the anime up until about the 217th episode and **AU** for Harry Potter after book seven also excluding the epilogue. I suppose this story might be a bit confusing if you aren't familiar with the world of Naruto.

**Author's note: **It struck me the other day that even though I've read quite a few Naruto/HP crossovers, I've never actually tried to write one myself. The thought hadn't even come to mind until just recently, which seems very odd to me since I'm a big fan of the series, especially Naruto himself, and I like to come up with lots of HP crossover ideas with almost any series that I like (although most of those ideas don't actually get written). Anyway, so I thought, better late than never!

* * *

Trouble, Meet More Trouble

* * *

A few days had gone by since they'd returned to Konoha. They had a former Hokage in coma, another come and gone and now Kakashi-sensei were the new stand-in Hokage. Everything, it would seem, happened so fast and Naruto's own perspective on things had changed, drastically, which he believed was for the good. His childish naivety he'd outgrown, he was a young adult now and the recent hero of Konoha. He felt like he had finally accomplished one of the goals set since his childhood. It had felt bewildering, strange and awkward when practically the whole village met him after his victorious fight and talk with the ninja called Nagato. But it had been warmth too, a warm feeling encasing his heart.

Many things had happened after that, amongst those a conference between the kage's from the different hidden villages from which a decision of a shinobi alliance had been made to counter Uchiha Madara's plans. This alliance was to stand between Madara and the last two remaining Jinchuriki; a ninja from the hidden village of cloud and Naruto himself from the hidden village of leaf.

Naruto looked up from his resting position on a piece of sawed wood while shinobi, locals and hired carpenters alike walked or rushed passed him carrying various tools or materials. The attack on the village had left it vulnerable and with a large gaping hole in the middle; many structures and homes lost in the blink of an eye. It was still a bit hard to believe your eyes when they set upon the large empty space, expecting to see towering buildings and not the deep hole that really sat there.

Sakura was keeping watch over the former Hokage, Tsunade-sama, together with Shizune-san the assistant of the former Hokage, Kakashi-sensei was getting things cleared with his newfound position and Sai was off somewhere else. Most of his friends and comrades was busy helping the restoration work on the village and this left Naruto with some time to think of the situation on many things; Sasuke, his dad, Sakura, Uchiha Madara, and then Sasuke again. He didn't claim to completely understand Sasuke, he knew better now, but he did claim to understand to some degree. He'd also come to understand that no fancy words of friendship would suffice to calm his best friend's feelings of hatred and vengeance. They would fight, and they would die by each other's hands at worst.

"Naruto-nisan!"

Naruto looked up to see an alarmed Konohamaru sprinting towards him with his two teammates trailing behind.

"What is it Konohamaru?" Naruto asked as the trio of youngsters came to a sliding halt in front of him. He looked from one to the other as they tried to catch their breaths, practically gulping down the air into their lungs.

The leader of the small group, Konohamaru, straightened his back first and took another deep breath before he rushed out what important message he had to give.

"Naruto-nisan! Something incredible just happened, lots of light, there was lots of light and then this guy appeared out of nowhere! I-I've never seen jutsu like that before!" Konohamaru cried out with both awe and apprehension blazing in the youngster's eyes.

What? Naruto thought, eyebrows drawn together, what was happening now? It couldn't be another attack? Was it another village taking advantage of Konoha's state of vulnerability? He had to find this guy quickly and determine whether he was a threat or not to the village.

"Where was this?" He asked, standing up hastily. "Show me the way Konohamaru, the rest of you find Kakashi-sensei and inform him, understood?" He ordered.

The three nodded determinedly, Konohamaru's two friends splitting away to find the Hokage stand-in.

Naruto's body kicked into action, following the young boy as Konohamaru led him to the eastern training grounds. A few people watched with curious eyes as the two ran past before going back to their tasks, not thinking much more on it since the two were known to fool around occasionally. Although the frowns on both faces should have alerted them that something was amiss.

The eastern training ground consisted of a cluster of thick formations of trees that were used to train Shinobi's maneuverability, agility and observational skills amongst others. Naruto flicked in-between the trees in Konohamaru's footsteps, senses spreading out to take notice of any movement or unfamiliar chakra flows.

When they came to a small path somewhere close to the centre of the grounds Konohamaru stepped back to let Naruto take the lead and they slowed their pace, stepping carefully out onto the path where Naruto spotted a dark shape lying unmoving. Knowing not to trust if the person was really unconscious or not, Naruto carefully withdrew a kunai from his pouch to guard against any possible attacks while telling Konohamaru to stay back.

The body made no move as he slowly closed in on the person, and Naruto bent down on one knee to use his free hand to roll the person over onto his back. He stared down into the pale face of a boy around his own age with short wild raven haired locks that licked his forehead with sweat. The teen was breathing shallowly, his chest rising up and down in jerky movements like he had just run a fair distance. A frown marred his face and, spotting something beneath the boy's tousled bangs, Naruto took a closer look at his forehead. An even paler scar in a shape reminiscent of a lightning bolt came into view. Naruto's frown grew and he fleetingly wondered if the boy happened to have some connection to the village of cloud in the Land of Lightning. But then again the village had clouds as a symbol for their headbands, obviously.

Rustling in the trees above had him raising his kunai again, but he soon relaxed as he watched Kakashi-sensei drop to the ground, Yamato-sensei and Sai also coming down behind the grey haired ninja.

"Naruto, what happened?"

Kakashi moved up to Naruto and crouched beside his blonde student, turning to take in the unconscious teen on the ground with an indecipherable look.

"Nothing much." Naruto replied, going back to watch the boy's increasing frown. "Found him like this. Konohamaru said he apparently appeared out of a ball of light or something. Has a lightning bolt scar on his forehead, think he could be from cloud village?" He said, raising the boy's bangs.

Yamato and Sai stepped to the other side of the body and took in the slightly harried features along with the torn and dirty clothing. They all didn't fail to notice the splotches of dried blood that clung to the boy's pants and shirt here and there. There also wasn't a sign of any headband anywhere on his body but that didn't mean he couldn't have hidden it beneath the clothes or elsewhere.

"It's a possibility, but what is a cloud ninja doing here looking worse for wear? Did he perhaps run into some leaf ninja after sneaking in?" Yamato wondered.

"He doesn't appear to be a ninja though." Sai observed.

They were interrupted when the raven haired boy moaned painfully, twisting around restlessly. The present shinobi tensed, while Kakashi reached out to hold a kunai at the ready as the boy suddenly woke up with a start, eyes shooting open. Brilliant deep green eyes tore from side to side and then stilled as he spotted the ninjas. The boy's breathing stopped for a few seconds, his eyes directed at the kunai in the ninja's hand.

The teen jerked away, trying to escape, and expecting the move Kakashi was already over the boy and holding a kunai against his throat causing the boy immediately to freeze, green eyes wide with half concealed fright.

"Don't move if you don't want to get hurt." Kakashi intoned calmly.

Around them the remaining ninjas moved in for support. The boy seemed afraid of breathing too deeply in case the blade would risk cutting into him.

"Which village are you from?" Kakashi asked.

The boy frowned at the question in confusion.

"Village?" He rasped in a dry voice.

"How did you get inside Konoha?"

"Konoha?" The boy repeated again with equal confusion that had the ninjas frown, which deepened with bewilderment when the boy continued. "Haven't heard of Konoha."

Could the boy be lying and acting dumb? If so he was very good at it since none of them could sense any deceit from him. Kakashi decided to try another line of questions.

"Who are you? What is your name?"

The boy didn't answer, holding his mouth shut with something akin to defiance in his eyes.

"Answer the question." Kakashi pressed a little harder against the skin and the boy's eyes widened.

"Harry." He finally let out.

The others frowned at the strange name.

"'Hari'?" Naruto echoed, pronunciation off.

Harry's eyes strayed carefully to the side, watching the blonde and raising an eyebrow in return at the orange and black jumpsuit.

"What?" Naruto replied annoyed when he noticed the look.

Yamato let out a small chuckle.

"Naruto." Kakashi cut in before Naruto could get into a rant to defend his choice of attire. "Send a shadow clone to Shizune-san to inform her that we've captured the intruder."

The blonde grunted in acquiescence, forming the sign for the jutsu with his hands and a clone popped into existence behind him, smoke swirling.

A gasp came from the boy on the ground, staring at the clone.

"You're wizards?" He asked astonished.

The question caused many eyebrows to rise in reaction. Was it possible that the teen in fact wasn't a ninja? But how had he managed to infiltrate the village if he wasn't one?

"Where are your wands?" He continued, staring at Naruto.

"Wands?" Sai questioned.

The boy turned his head to stare at the incredibly pale ninja, even paler than himself.

"Yes, wands, to perform magic."

There was a moment of silence before Naruto started laughing. The teen stared at the blonde in unsure confusion.

"Magic!" Naruto chuckled. "You've never seen a jutsu before?"

"Jutsu?" Harry repeated.

"Yeah, a jutsu, like my shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto said and pointed at the clone standing behind him. He nodded at the clone and it jumped up into the foliage of the trees to deliver its message.

"But if you're not wizards, how could you do that?" Harry asked, seemingly forgotten about Kakashi and the knife still at his throat in favor of the talkative teen.

"I'm a ninja!" Naruto proclaimed proudly, hefting his hands on his hips.

This time it was Harry's turn to laugh and in turn shocking the others. Kakashi drew back the slightest as he observed the teen shaking with humor.

"A ninja? Which century are you from? You only see ninjas in movies and books, not in actual real life."

They really didn't know what to make of the teen. Ninjas were part of the everyday life here and practically everyone knew about them. To think that this teen didn't think they even existed, even though he seemed to be familiar with the term, was ludicrous.

When the teen noticed the surprised yet steady eyes on him he stopped with a frown.

"Wait, you're serious?"

"Why wouldn't we be?" Sai asked.

"But how? I've only read about ninjas in old stories, oh, though I think I remember my history professor saying there used to be ninjas in ancient Japan but that they had grown outdated or something…"

"Japan?" Yamato questioned. "Ninjas having grown outdated?" He cast an unsure look at Kakashi.

The grey haired ninja stared down at the teen with an indescribable look for a short moment.

"He's not lying." Kakashi said. "He really believes in what he's saying."

"But everyone knows about ninjas!" Naruto protested.

"Not him apparently." Sai retorted.

"We're taking him in." Kakashi said standing up and pulled the teen up with him with a firm grip on his arm.

The boy yelped in pain at the movement and nearly buckled, clutching his abdomen. He coughed harshly and they saw a few drops of blood fall to the ground. Seemed like he was internally hurt. The coughs wracked his whole frame and the drops became a small puddle. When the teen tried to draw in breath a gurgling sound was heard and he slumped against Kakashi.

"We better take him to the infirmary." Yamato said after a quick assessment of the boy's condition.

Kakashi scooped up the teen and began a run back to the center of the village, the others following behind.

* * *

When Harry woke up later he had a moment of disorientation before memory caught up with him. He turned his head around and noticed that he was lying on a cot in a sort of wooden hut.

"Awake?"

Harry flipped his head to the voice and green eyes met blue.

"Sakura said that you had a small tear in your lung. She managed to stop the bleeding and repair it, but that you still shouldn't exert yourself for the week or so."

"Sakura?" Harry questioned at the unfamiliar name.

"My friend and team-mate. I'm Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto said with a friendly smile.

"Oh…thanks." Harry replied, feeling he ought to say thanks.

His confusion was growing with the knowledge that one of these 'ninjas' had apparently healed his lung yet they still claimed not to be wizards. Instead they claimed to be ninjas and Harry found that laughable. First time he'd heard about ninjas was when his cousin Dudley were watching a movie about them when he was seven. He'd grown up knowing that ninjas didn't exist, even in the wizarding world they hadn't existed for several hundred of years.

"You really don't know about ninjas?" Naruto asked him, leaning forth with a disbelieving expression.

"No." Harry replied.

Naruto swung back with a sigh to rest against the wall with a thump.

"Man, that's just weird!"

Harry frowned in annoyance. Well, excuse him. He sat up slowly and then drew back the sleeve of his shirt, revealing a thin wooden case strapped to his underarm.

Naruto fixed his eyes on the other teen with the movement.

"What's that?" He asked curiously, although with an underlying tone of wariness. "We couldn't get it off you no matter how hard we tried."

"That's because it's charmed." Harry said while he inspected the condition of the small wooden case.

"Charmed?" A voice queried from the doorway.

The two teen's looked up to see that grey haired ninja from before leaning casually against the doorframe.

"Care to explain that?" The ninja said as he moved further into the small hut.

Harry eyed the man with wariness; he had after all held a knife to Harry's throat.

"It's in your best interest to answer." The man said with a smile hidden beneath the cloth covering the lower half of his face.

Harry stared at the man for a long moment until the man's visible eye hardened. The teen swallowed reflexively.

"It's charmed to not let anyone else but the wearer remove or damage it." Harry finally let out and was rewarded with a small hidden smile again.

"And what does charmed imply?"

"Uh, that it's charmed with magic." Harry replied slowly.

"Magic." The ninja echoed tonelessly. "Whatever you call it, this is the first time I've seen chakra used in this way."

"Chakra?"

Kakashi ignored the question.

"What's inside?"

Harry hesitated again before answering after receiving another hard look.

"My wand."

"Your wand."

"Yes, my wand." Harry repeated with annoyance at the look from the ninja.

The man hummed and Naruto quirked his head to the side.

Harry sighed audibly.

"Look," He began. "If you'd just point me to the nearest wizarding community I'll be on my way. I was kind of in the middle of something before I ended up here and..." He cut himself off with a frown. "Now that I think about it, how the bloody hell _did_ I get here...?" He murmured the last part.

"That's a question I would like answered too." The man replied and had Harry turning his head back to look at the other with a frown that seeped into confusion.

Harry's clutched the side of his head when a distorted image flashed briefly in front of his eyes and pain shot through his skull. He groaned and bowed his head.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked as he moved closer and bent down next to Harry on one knee.

"...it'll pass..." Harry grunted out, hissing when the pain spiked for half a second.

_'Where are you, Harry? Where are you hiding?'_

Harry froze in place, before he gritted his teeth and _pushed_ with his mind. The voice cut off abruptly. Shite, he'd gotten careless for a moment there.

He took a deep breath, feeling minor discomfort in his left chest as he did so.

"Either you talk now, or I send you somewhere where they will make you talk." The man's voice interrupted Harry's thoughts.

"Would that be really necessary Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked with an uncomfortable frown but received no answer.

Harry flicked his eyes between the two.

"I get the feeling I ended up somewhere I'm not supposed to be." Steady eyes met his. "Right, okay fine, I'll talk." He said with a huff. "I'll share what I can with you. You're not people of my enemy, I understand that now, since none of them would've taken time to heal me in the first place before throwing me at their leader." He chuckled bitterly while eyeing his wand case.

The man, Kakashi, nodded and leaned back against the wall behind Naruto.

* * *

**AN: **I hate it when plot bunnies leaves you hanging, or distract you with yet another plot bunny. /Lin


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